God's Destiny for the Redeemed

I'll call your attention to what we were singing earlier, not in the last psalm but the one before the last. It was finished upon the cross. We know what that's speaking to, atonement for men and men. It was finished upon the cross, but that phrase is loaded and it has some meaning that we're going to look at this morning that may surprise some of you. I'm excited to see how this unfolds. So if you would take your Bible and turn back to Hebrews chapter 2, we were in verses 5 to 9 earlier. That's where we will stay most of the time throughout the message.

But I will mention a few other verses that you can write down and go back and look at in your own study. Now the last time we were in our study through the book of Hebrews, we studied verses 1 to 4. I think most of you know that. And in those verses we saw how the author of this letter was warning those within this small Jewish congregation to pay very close attention to what they had heard. They had clearly heard the message of salvation in Jesus and the fact that He was the promised Messiah of God. And He was warning them not to neglect such a great salvation that is in Jesus who was and is the promised Messiah of God.

And that same warning applies to many today. As a matter of fact, that same warning may even apply to some here this morning. And the warning is this. We must make sure that we pay very close attention to the gospel and salvation in Christ. We must make sure that we do not neglect the great salvation in Jesus that is before us. And if that is you, I'm urging you, do not let salvation slip on by like we saw in verses 1 to 4. Do not let the day of salvation slip on by like a boat would drift downstream if it was not tied up properly. But here in verses 5 to 9 we have a transition in the teaching.

We see that the author mentions angels again and then he takes some time to explain the ultimate destiny of men and man. Now this is not just any man. This is redeem mankind. To me here the author is putting some things in their proper order. These verses he reveals certain things pertaining to angels, redeem mankind and how the angels in redeem mankind relate to the world to come. And then the original audience here certainly needed to understand these things. But we will see that what we have here in verses 5 to 9 and on down to verse 18 is not disconnected from the previous verses.

It's all comes together and I'll show you how it comes together near the end of the message. Now before we get into the verses I want us to see that there is a key word found here that we need to understand but the word is not found in the scripture. Let me explain. The word that I have in mind here is the word destiny. The word destiny. In all of my study this week I kept coming across this word destiny and some of my resources. And in my opinion we need to have this word destiny and the meaning of this word in our minds before we get into the verses. Webster defines destiny as something to which a person or thing is destined.

It's pretty easy. Something to which a person or a thing is destined. I'll give you an example. If you are a college football fan we could say that Nick Saban was destined to be one of if not the greatest football coach who ever lived. Now I know there are some are not Alabama fans and they might say that with their teeth kind of clenched. Maybe you don't like that example. I'll give you another one. If we were to study the great presidents that we have had in our American history we could examine their lives and their careers and we could say that some of them were destined to greatness.

Well man's destiny is what we have here in these verses. Here we will see God's ultimate destiny for man and not just any man. This is only for the redeemed in Christ Jesus. And in seeing man's destiny we will also see how the angels fit into these things as well. Now this leads me to the title of the message. It's rather simple. God's destiny for the redeemed. God's destiny for the redeemed. If you want a little longer title you could title this message God's destiny for redeemed mankind. Some may be tempted to say God's destiny for man but I don't think that's good because this is not for all men. This is for only the redeemed.

Now when we look at the verses here we see something that should be familiar to us. We've seen this in chapter 1. We see the author make a statement and then he uses the Old Testament to back up what he's saying. Now before we read our verses I want us to see that in verse 5 the author here makes a statement about angels and then in verses 6 to 8 he quotes a part of Psalm 8 and then he makes other statements about angels and Jesus in verse 8 and verse 9. And we're going to see that men and man redeem mankind right in the middle of these things. So let's go back and read our verses.

And then I will explain how I'm going to divide and unpack these verses. 4. It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, now we know what the somewhere is, Psalm 8, what is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you care for him. You made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now in putting everything in subjection to him he left nothing outside his control. At present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels namely Jesus. Crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Now this is how we are going to approach these verses in the message. First we will look at man's destiny and we see this in verse 5 down to the beginning of verse 8. And then second we will look at how man's destiny was ruined there at the end of verse 8. And then third we will look at how man's destiny was recovered in verse 9. So number 1. I call this man's destiny. And verse 5 on down to the first part of verse 8 man's destiny.

Now right away I want us to see the main point of these verses. The author here was and is writing to reveal the ultimate destiny for man. Well what is this ultimate destiny? What is the ultimate destiny for redeeming mankind? Well it's simple. To rule the world. To come. I like it verse 5. For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come. Now to see this truth, this reality I want us to look at three things out of these verses. First is rather short. I call this the misunderstanding. Now the first thing we see here in verse 5 is that rule over the world to come has not been given to the angels.

Simply that will not be their place. That is because the angels were created as servants. We saw that back in chapter 1 verse 14. That the angels were created to be ministering spirits to those who will inherit salvation. That means that the angels were created to serve not to rule. And if we think about it we can see how this applied to that original audience. Remember that they had this overblown and incorrect view of angels. They had elevated angels far above man in an unbiblical and horribly incorrect way. So this would have been corrective for that original audience. But the second thing I want us to see is what I call the declaration.

Here we see that the author is indirectly declaring that man will rule the world to come because he doesn't name man at the beginning of verse 5. But notice something. This word subjected that we see here in the English Standard Version. In the original it simply means to arrange under or to put under or end subjection. In their day this word was used to speak of soldiers who were subject to or under the command of those who were over them. In non-military settings this word was also used of any system of administration. So we see that man, not angels, will rule the world to come.

We can turn it around and say that the world will come under or be under the command of or in subjection to not angels but man. And again this is the redeemed. But what is this world to come? This word for world here in verse 5 is a unique word in the original. And this word here is not the general word for world which speaks of the world system. This word here is a very specific word which means the inhabited earth or the inhabited land or the inhabited country. And now for some of you you are getting real excited because you know this is referring to your view of the end times.

You know anytime we get close to eschatology people get excited. As a matter of fact sometimes folks will say faster when you are going to preach through the book of Revelation? Well one day. Now for the sake of time I am not going to get into the different views here because doing that we can miss the point of the verses. But we must ask what is this world to come and what is the author talking about? Well first we must see what this is not. He is not speaking about the world that we live in here and now. And we know that to be the case because redeem mankind is not ruling the world.

In fact we see that lost humanity seems to be ruling the world and even ruining the world and they are. But we also know that God is sovereign. Nothing is out of control. It is in control. But simply the author is speaking of a new world here. He is speaking of a new world that is to come. And this new world will be a real inhabited world, a real inhabited land or earth that the redeemed mankind will rule they will govern. But notice something. He never mentions man in verse 5. You see that? The author implies that man will rule the world to come. But notice he backs up this implication by going into the Old Testament.

That is what verses 6 to 8 are all about. So this leads us to the third thing I want us to see. The Old Testament confirmation that the author here is referring to man. Simply the author went to the Old Testament to prove what he had just said about man and man ruling the world to come. Let's read those verses again. Verses 6 to the beginning of verse 8. He says, "It has been testified somewhere." We know where. Many of your Bibles will even have a citation there that this is Psalm 8. What is man that you are mindful of him? Or you remember him? Or the son of man that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels.

You have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. Now here I want to do two things. First I want to explain what we see in Psalm 8, all of Psalm 8. And then I want to explain what the author is saying here in his quotation of Psalm 8. Simply Psalm 8 is about three things. And if you read Psalm 8 this will be easy for you to see. As a matter of fact I challenge you to go study and read Psalm 8. In verses 1 to 4 of Psalm 8 we see God's glory in creation and the worth of mankind in the creation. In verses 5 to 8 we see man as the crown of God's creation, the crown of God's creation.

And David who wrote the Psalm goes on to explain man's responsibility to govern God's creation. Listen to Psalm 8 verses 5 to 8. David said, "Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen and also the beasts of the fields, and the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas." And this Psalm has what I see as two bookends. We see the two bookends in verse 1, the first verse, and verse 9, the last verse.

The first and the last verses are all about praise to God and again those serve as bookends for me for the Psalm. But I want us to see what the author of Hebrews is saying here in chapter 2 in verses 6 to 8 while he is quoting Psalm 8. In verse 6 he is saying that God has not forgotten man in his sinful state. He says God has been mindful of man or he remembered men in man. This is saying the same thing as when God remembered Noah in the ark. And in verse 7 he is saying that man is lower than the angels. Man is simply limited in his power and knowledge and man is subject to death, unlike the angels.

And in verse 8 here he is saying that in the coming day God will put everything in subjection to man. That would be the redeemed, not all men and man. So here in verses 5 to the beginning of verse 8 we see the destiny of the redeemed. The author was writing to explain God's plan for the destiny of redeemed men and man. As a statement of correction he says that angels were not created to rule the world to come. Remember angels are servants, they are never rulers. The destiny of the redeemed is to rule and to govern the new world that is to come and this has been God's plan all along. Have you figured it out yet folks?

There is no plan B with God. Now a question rhetorical in nature. Did you know this about our future? Is this new information? Have you ever heard this before? Did you know this about our future? You know in South Mississippi folks have all of these erroneous views about heaven you know. Pastor I can't wait to get to heaven. I am going to play golf every day. Pastor I can't wait to get to heaven. I am going to fish and I am going to hunt when I get to heaven. Oh it is going to be a great family reunion when I get to heaven. All of that is man centered folks and what we see here is this. Man, men, but not just any men.

The redeemed we will be ruling and governing obviously under the lordship of Christ the new world that is to come. So we have man's destiny of the destiny of the redeemed. And then number two I want us to see man's destiny was ruined by sin. Man's destiny was ruined by sin. We see that in the second part, the last part of verse 8. Look at what we see here. The author says at present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. Now that is a key phrase. At present we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. Now notice what we have here. Notice what is behind this statement.

One commentator said this tells us that we have a serious problem here and we do. I have already said that man is ruling God's creation but not like what we see here. Actually men and man are ruling and ruining the creation. That is not hard for us to see. But what we need to see here is this. God's original intention from man was that man would rule his creation perfectly without sin. We see this in the beginning. In Genesis chapter 1 before we had a serious problem which is the problem of sin. Genesis 1.28 says, "And God said to them," who would be them? "Adam and Eve.

Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds, over the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." So simply we have here God's mandate for man which was given to Adam and Eve which was this. "Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth, subdue the earth," which means rule it, to dominate it, to keep it under or to bring it under bondage. Have dominion over the creation which means to dominate it even simply to rule the creation. Yes, a serious problem arose. Man lost his rule. His rule was ruined by and in the curse of sin.

The curse of sin affected not only men and man but the curse of sin affected all of the creation. Now in all of my study this week I ran across others that unpacked this so well. So follow me here. William McDonald says, "It was Adam's sin that brought the curse on the creation. Dossil creatures became ferocious. The ground began to bring forth thorns and thistles. Man's control over nature was challenged and limited." I like what Tom Shriner says here. He says, "Yes, human beings were destined to rule the entire world for God.

Everything was supposed to be under the rule and dominion of human beings, but sin intervened to frustrate that rule." Shriner goes on to say, and I'm quoting, "The glory designed for human beings has not become a reality in human history. Instead, human history is littered with the wreckage of destruction and death, a world gone mad." What MacArthur says, and I'm quoting something drastic happened, "Man's revealed destiny was restricted by Adam and Eve's sin." And I want to add to that by saying, yes, man's destiny was restricted in that man cannot rule fully and perfectly the earth, but that rule was not just restricted, it was ruined.

Again, I like what Shriner says here. I'm repeating what I said earlier, "The glory designed for human beings has not become a reality in human history. Instead, human history is littered with the wreckage of destruction and death, a world gone mad." And now that we understand what's behind that verse, the second part of verse 8, I want us to look at the verse, and I want us to see two facts out of that part of verse 8. First, the pessimism of our present circumstances. Notice that the writer says this, "Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside of his control." Notice the pessimism.

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. Here, the author says that we do not see the creation under the rule and under the subjection of man. Again, because of Adam and Eve's sins, man's rule was ruined, it was restricted. And notice how this applies even today. I thought of three examples. Even with all of our advances in medicine, technology, and education, sin still ruins man's ability to rule and to govern. As a matter of fact, with those good things that are a gift from God, sinful men use medicine, technology, and education to further destroy the creation, not rule it for good and for God's glory.

Think about how man has used medical technology for good, but think about how man has used medical technology for bad. How many men were killed, wounded, and marred for life because of the use of chemical warfare in World War I? Think about how many men have used technology like the internet for good and for bad. How much pornography is pumped into the hearts and homes almost as fast as the speed of light? Think about how men and man has used education for good and for bad. How many college campuses, how many classrooms, how many highly educated people push the lie straight from hell that man has evolved instead of being created?

So what we see here in this one phrase, "At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him." What we see here is this, "At present, sin is wrecking and ruining man's ability to rule the creation, to rule the world for good and for God's glory." And look, church, this is the sad, hard truth of the world that we live in. And I do not believe that things will get better. I do not believe that we can conquer nations as Christians. I do not agree with the post-mill folks right here. And look, church, to me, we have two reactions. Sin is very dangerous. There are two reactions to what we have here in the world.

We could hunker and bunker. We could hunker down and bunker in. We could choose to hide from the world. We could choose to try to hunker down and bunker in so as to hide ourselves away from the world. But look, church, we cannot hide. And even if we could go and live in a compound or a commune to try to hide from the world, one would still be there because we are all sinful people. Anyway, that's not how the Scriptures call us to live. But we could advance and we could redeem. We could choose to live advancing Christian lives, being salt and light and a lost and dark world. And we could choose to advance by preaching the gospel.

Personally, I believe that we should take dominion of what God gives us. If you came up to me and said, "Pastor, I just inherited a thousand acre farm," I would say, "Use it for the glory of God and for the good of man. Use it for the good of your family. Take dominion over that which you have." And if you came up to me and said, "Pastor, I inherited a hot dog stand." I'd tell you the same thing. If you told me that God enabled you to drive the space shuttle or a garbage truck, I would tell you the same thing because what? It is about taking dominion over that which God gives you. And personally, I believe we should go into the dark world.

Yes, taking dominion over what God's given us and also being salt and light. We should take the message of the gospel to the lost world, understanding that any redemption of this world will be found when lost sinners come to faith in Christ. But then second, I want us to see the optimism of our future circumstances out of this verse. Notice again the writer says, "At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him." Not only do we see a note of pessimism, but to me we see optimism. We see the writer's ultimate optimistic look on all of these things. Simply, we do not yet see everything in subjection, but one day it will come to be.

On faithful day, this subjection and rule of the world by man will come, which leads us to verse 9. But before we get to verse 9, we must see how the optimism of our future circumstances relate to us. And look, folks, no matter your view of the end times, no matter where your eschatology is, you cannot ignore or deny what is said here. One day these things will come to be. Verse 8 says, and I'm quoting the verse, "At present time, we do not yet see everything in subjection to Him." And verse 5 says, "For it was not to the angels that God subjected the world to come." Now what am I showing you?

One day the world will be under our subjection and rule. And look, church, if our eschatology challenges or contradicts the clear reading of these verses, then our eschatology could be wrong, or we may be applying our eschatology wrong. This leads me to a big lesson here. We need to beware of imposing our categories on the Scripture. We must make sure we impose Scripture on our categories, not the other way around. Well let's make sure that we impose Scripture on our categories so as to make our categories and labels correct. So man's destiny was ruined by sin. And finally that leads us to verse 9.

Number 3, man's destiny is recovered in Christ. Man's destiny is recovered in Christ. Here in verse 9 we see that the destiny of the Redeem was made possible by Christ through his death on the cross. It's really plain and simple folks. God's intended destiny for man which was ruined by sin was in fact recovered by Christ on the cross. Now out of this verse I do want us to see two things about what Christ did. First I want us to see His incarnation. Look back at verse 9. See if you can see His incarnation.

But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. Here we see the same thing said about Jesus that was said earlier about man. You notice that? For a little while He, that's Jesus, was made lower than the angels. Of course this is speaking about Christ and His incarnation. You've learned this. The eternal Son of God became a man. He was in fact made lower than the angels. But notice that Christ Jesus goes further here. The author goes on to say that He was made lower than the angels and suffered death.

He said that Christ even tasted death which means that He experienced the fullness of death and all of the horrors associated with death on the cross. Of course He is speaking about the death of Christ on the cross. So in saying that Jesus was made lower than the angels and that He suffered death, the writer here was and is referring to the atonement. Not just the incarnation. And this speaks of the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross. He died in the place of sinful men as a substitute. He died as a man, the God-man, and He died for man.

But in Christ's death we not only see Him recovering men and men from sin and from the punishment of sin, He went to the cross to recover man's destiny as well. To me, Warren Wiersby's summary here is beautiful and I can't put it in a better way. Wiersby says Jesus Christ became man, that He might suffer and die for man's sin and restore the dominion that was lost because of sin. And Wiersby goes on to say when our Lord was here on earth, He exercised that lost dominion. He had dominion over the fish as seen in Matthew 17, Luke 5, John 21. Over the fowl, that would be birds. We see that in Luke 22 in two places.

Over the wild beasts, we see that in Mark 1 and the domesticated beasts. We see that in Mark 11. And He goes on to say as the last Adam, Jesus Christ regained man's lost dominion. Today everything is under His feet. Ephesians 1, 20-23. But notice where this brings us. Jesus presents to us what theologians call the tension of the already not yet aspect of God's kingdom. Let me state that. What we have here, what's presented to us, what's unfolded before us is what theologians call the tension of the already not yet aspect of the kingdom of God.

And what that means is this, Christ's work on the cross has provided these things, but they have not yet been realized or fulfilled, but they certainly will. And as a result of all that Christ did on the cross, as a result of Christ's full atoning work on the cross, second we see His exaltation. Here in the middle of verse 9, we see the wonderful consequences of Christ's obedience to death, even death on the cross. Notice the consequences. Look back at verse 9. "But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus." Now notice His exaltation. "Crown with glory and honor." Why? Because of the suffering of death.

This is simple and really needs little explanation because of Christ's full and satisfactory atoning work on the cross. He was crowned with glory and honor, which is something we've seen all throughout chapter 1. In chapter 1 verse 2, we see that He has been appointed heir of all things. In chapter 1 verse 3, we see that He, thus Jesus, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. And then in chapter 1, we see several places where the author quotes the Old Testament that shows us the glory and the honor and that position that Christ has even today.

So as a result of Christ's incarnation and His perfect and complete atoning work on the cross, He has been crowned with glory and honor. So in verse 9, we see man's destiny recovered by Christ by His suffering and death on the cross. Man's destiny to rule the world, to come, has been restored. It has been recovered. And one day that destiny will be realized. And I go back to an earlier question. Did you realize that this is a part of what Christ accomplished on the cross? Do you realize that this is the future of the redeemed? I venture to say that there are many Christians who do not know this about our future, about our destiny.

Again, we hear so much about a man-centered heaven. I can't wait to get to heaven to see Papal and Mom and Dad. I can't wait to get to heaven, pastor. I'm going to deer hunt and I'm going to fish and I'm going to play golf. But that's all man-centered and we don't find that in the Scripture. So man's destiny is recovered in Christ. Now I want to move on from the verses. And I want us to see how this applied to those Jews and how this applies to us in our day. For those Jews, that would be the original audience. This was very corrective. Remember that they had an inflated, this unbiblical view of angels.

So the writer was saying to them, "It will not be angels who will rule the world to come, but the redeemed." As a matter of fact, redeemed mankind will also rule the angels as well. They're servants, not rulers. So think about it. It would have been unimaginable if they would have turned back to the Old Covenant and what the angels revealed, which does not promise rule over the world to come. And notice how this relates to the previous verses. The author was saying to these Jews in this small Jewish congregation, "Make sure you pay very close attention to the gospel and salvation in Christ Jesus.

Do not neglect the great salvation in Jesus that is before you. Do not let salvation slip by you like a boat would drift downstream if it was not tied up properly." And he goes on to say, "If you do, you will miss out on God's destiny for the redeemed." And the same thing can be said of some of you this morning. If you're not in Christ Jesus, notice what you're missing. Not only are you missing redemption, you are missing out on the destiny that God intends for men and men. But notice what else these verses do for us. Understanding what is said here elevates men and mankind. Let me repeat that.

Understanding what is taught here and said here, it elevates men and mankind. We live in a world where human life is cheapened. We live in a world where human life is degraded and even hated. But here in verses 1-4 and in verses 5-9 we see human life is exalted. Let me give you a little exercise. This week when you go about your life, pay attention to what social media says about human life. Pay attention to what television says about human life. Pay attention to what our culture says about human life and compare that to what we see in the scripture.

Also I want us to see that we live in a world where the creation is exalted and even exalted above man. We live in a world that tells us that man is meant to serve the creation. But in the scriptures we see that man is to govern the creation. Simply the message of Genesis 1 and all of the scripture is that creation is for man, not man for the creation. Listen to what the culture tells you about the creation. The culture will tell you that we should serve the creation. We should sacrifice for the creation. Now I'm not for abusing the creation. No, we should be good stewards. But the creation is for man, not man for the creation.

If you tell me that you inherit a thousand acres full of trees and you're contemplating selling them to make a profit, I'd say go for it, take dominion. Be a good steward, yes, because creation is for man. And as the redeemed in Christ, notice our destiny is not yet fulfilled. Remember we live under the already not yet principle. We are living in a sin sick world and sin has affected the creation and man's ability to take dominion. But one day we will govern a new creation perfectly. But I believe we are to redeem the creation and all that God has given us as best we can.

I believe we are to take dominion of what we have before us as God allows, not for sinful purposes, not for selfish purposes, but for good, for the good of your family, for the good of men and man, and for the glory of God. And also I believe we are to look forward to the time when we as the redeemed, we will rule, we will govern the world. We are to look forward to our ultimate responsibility in Christ, which is to govern the world to come in Christ, for Christ, under Christ, and for the glory of Christ. So what's the title of the message? This surprises some of you. God's destiny for the redeemed. Let's pray.

And as always, commit these things to the Lord.