Going back to Hebrews chapter
2, titled the message, The World
to Come. The World to Come. There is a new world coming. It's real. In chapter 1, The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is established. His work as a Redeemer is set
forth, for it says He purged us from our sins. His glory is set forth. Thy throne,
O God, is forever and ever. And then we come to chapter 2,
and he says, We ought to give the more earnest heed to the
things which we have heard, the gospel we have heard, the gospel
of God's glory, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, how God
saves sinners, lest at any time we should let them drift away. For if the word spoken by angels
was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just
recompense of reward, How shall we escape if we neglect? So great
is salvation. He's telling us, neglect not
what you heard. Don't take lightly what you have
heard. Give great attention to it. Give
earnest heed to it. There is no other salvation.
There is no other gospel. There is no other Savior. Neglect this one and you perish. That's how serious it is. Neglect
this one and you perish. Now, after the writer sets forth
the Lord Jesus Christ and His deity and His glory, and he urges
upon his readers here, to give solemn attention to the gospel
they've heard. He turns their attention and
our attention to this new world that's coming, to this new world
that's coming and to this man, this man, Christ Jesus. And he reaches back there and
he gets Psalm 8 that David had spoken. And he ties it together
with the man Christ Jesus. What is man? Well, until you
see Christ, you really don't know. Well, I'll put it this
way. You have a real distorted view.
Remember when the Lord touched that man's eyes and he said,
what do you see? He said, I see men as trees walking. Well, he
had to touch him again. He said, now what do you see?
He saw men as men. And until we see the Lord Jesus
Christ, in his glory, in his manhood, and have some understanding
of this new world coming, will have a distorted view of man. So this is what he's going to
deal with. What is man? What is he? Who is he? What does
he have to do with this new world to come? He says here in verse 5, For
unto the angels hath he not put in subjection. They are not the
subjects of this new world. Gabriel, Michael, in their glory,
in their strength, I mean, my soul, what powerful, powerful
beings. They are not the subject of this
new world. Man is. and especially this man, Christ
Jesus. The world to come is very real.
It is not a fairy tale. Look over in Revelation chapter
21. I do not know, I don't even have
a clue when this is going to happen, but it's going to happen.
I tell you that. It's going to happen because
God said so. Over in Revelation chapter 21,
John says, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away, gone, and there
was no more sea. He said, I saw it. God gave him
a glimpse into the future. He said, I saw a new heaven and
a new earth. It's very real. The old one,
he said, passed away. The scripture says the fashion
of this world passeth away. However, there will be a new
heaven and a new earth to take its place when this one passes
away, when he throws this one up and does away with it. And
man, through the man Christ Jesus, will be what God purposed him
to be. He'll be what God purposed him to be from the beginning. He'll have dominion. He'll have
dominion. And this dominion is not given
to the angels. They are going to be servants to the heirs of salvation in
that new world. They're just going to be servants.
That's all it's going to be. The first Adam, when God created
him, God gave him power, authority,
over this earth. He said, have dominion over it.
Subdue it. Well, he failed, didn't he? He failed. He failed and
he fell into sin. And his posterity fell in him.
Now we live in a sinful world. We live in a world that hates
God. Can you imagine that? We live in a world that hates
the creator of the world. That's what we live in because
of this fall. And we ourselves are full of
sin. Full of it. We know it. Creation
not only turned on God, but creation has turned on itself. If God
did not preserve us, we would annihilate ourselves. We would
annihilate ourselves. That's what would happen. But there is a good end to all
this that God purposed before He created this world. You know,
this world is like a blimp. It's just like a blimp on the
eternal screen of God. It's just a blimp. That's what
it's like. And there's going to be a new
heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And there's
going to be a man that's going to have dominion one end to the
other. There's going to be a man who's
going to be king. We're not going to vote for presidents. We're
not going to vote him in and out of office. In that new world,
there is one king and he is a righteous king and he's going to rule. in that new heaven and new earth.
And everyone, everyone in that new heaven and new earth rejoice
in His reign. Glad that He reigns. That's what's
coming. That's what's coming in this
new world. Now He says, what is man that thou art mindful
of him? Or the Son of Man that thou visitest
Him? What is man? Well, first of all,
he is God's special creation. He's God's special creation.
Turn over to Genesis chapter one. In Genesis chapter one. In verse
twenty six. And God said, let us, Father,
Son, Holy Spirit, let us make man, listen, in our image. He didn't make a cow in His image.
He did not make a monkey in His image. He made a man. He made
a man in His image. What is man that they aren't
mindful of? He's a special creation of God. Let us make man in our image
after our likeness. That's not said of any part of
the rest of God's creation. That's said of man. Of man. He is God's special creation.
Of all creation, none equal the creation of a man. A man can
reason. A man can think. He can plot
and plan. He can feel. He has a soul. He has spirit. He's God's special
creation. Now, the evolutionists would
have us to believe that man came from a monkey. And that's a slam
on the monkey. Really, it really is. Here's what the evolutionists
believe, that man is a superior animal. No, he is a superior
creation of God. That's what man is. Man came from God. He's the creation,
he's a special creation of God Almighty. And that being so,
he is responsible to God. You see, if he came from a monkey,
he's not responsible, so he can go out here and do what he wants
to do, and he doesn't have to worry about it when he dies.
But if you believe that God created, now you're responsible. He's responsible to God. Man
was created to serve God. He was created to enjoy God. He was created to worship God. And He was created to be with
God forever. That's why God created Him. And we'll see as we go through
Hebrews here, this is fulfilled in the man, Christ Jesus. It's fulfilled in Him, by Him,
and us in Him. What is man? The answer to this question will
reveal, it can reveal a person's spiritual condition. What is
man? What do you think of him? We know he's God's special creation.
He was made for God, to worship God. But what is he now? He's
a fallen preacher. He's a fallen son of Adam. And no doubt David, he said,
I look at the moon and the stars, the universe, I look at all that
God's created. And David, knowing what he was
by nature, he says, what is a man that you'd even think of him?
A sinful man. What is he? Thou madest him a little lower
than the angels. Thou crownest him with glory
and honor. He said to Adam, have dominion.
The fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the beasts of the
field, have dominion. You crowned him with glory and honor. And
this set him over the works of thy hands. Once again, God made him, and
he made him for a special purpose. God made him, he says here, a
little lower than the angels. And really, it's best read like
this. He made him a little lower than
the angels for a little while. For a little while. What we're
going through here now is a little while. Our Lord came into this
world and became a man. And He went through this world
and endured suffering for sin, humiliation for a little while.
We'll see that he also was made just so he could go through death.
He could die. But he's made for a little while.
God gave man dominion over the works of his hands. What an honor. What an honor. What a position. But now listen. That was an honor
when God created Adam, he said, have dominion over this. The
fish of the sea, the fowl of the air. You know, Adam named
all the animals. That was an honor. But this goes
beyond this world. He's speaking of another world.
He's speaking of another world. This reaches into that world
to come where the man Christ Jesus, where the man Christ Jesus
will rule and reign over all things. And His church will be
right there with Him. The church will be right there
with you. The full realization of this will happen in the world
to come. That's when the full realization
of it will happen. Right now, we are made a little
lower than the angels. They excel in strength and glory. We have to die. They don't. But not in that new world. Not
in that new world. Now the purpose for this subjection
for a little while has to do with the purpose, now listen,
it has to do with the purpose of God's Son. It has to do with the purpose
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That He, as a man, As God, He
has the preeminence. As God, He rules over all. As
God, He owns all. He's the Creator. We saw this
in chapter 1. All things were created by Him
and for Him. He's the Creator of it all. But as a man, as a
real man of flesh and bones, He might have the preeminence. This man, Jesus Christ, might
have the preeminence over all, especially in that world to come. He's going to have the preeminence
over all. He's going to have the glory. He's going to have
the glory over all. This man, this man, who right
now is seated at God's right hand. There's a man seated at
God's right hand, not an angel, not Gabriel, not Michael, a man
named Jesus, a man who was despised and rejected of men, a man who
was spit on, a man who was slapped, a man who was nailed to a tree,
a man who was beaten, beaten to a pulp, so to speak. It says, his visage was so large
more than any man. That man, right now, is seated
at God's right hand. That man is. And he did this, God did this,
that he, his son, this man, might have the preeminence. What we shall be is hidden It's
hidden now from us because of sin. The effects of sin. We live in this world of sin.
We live in a body of sin. And we really can't see what
we are going to be. It doth not yet appear, the Scripture
says, what we shall be. But we know this, when He shall
appear, we're going to be just like Him. We're going to be just like that
glorified man who's seated at God's right hand right now. Someday
we will be where our forerunner is. We'll be with Him. And we shall be what God has
purposed us to be all along, before He ever created the heavens
and the earth. God purposed this long before
He created the heavens and the earth. We don't see this now. He says here in verse 8, Thou
hast put all things and subjection under His feet, for in that He
put all that subjection under Him. He left nothing that's not
put under Him. But now we see not yet all things
put under Him. We don't see all things put under
Him yet. But we see Jesus. We don't see
all things put under Him yet. There's still a lot of enemies
running loose. Well, we think they're running
loose. They're not running loose. They're
on a dog chain. They can only go as far as He allows them to
go. But we do not see all things put under Him yet. But we see
Jesus. You notice He says here, but we see the Son of God. Does
He say that? We see the second person of the Trinity.
Although we do. No, we see Jesus. That's His
name in humiliation. That's the name that He was named
by His Father. He said, You shall call His name
Jesus. The angel said, You shall call
His name Jesus. He shall save His people from
their sins. But we see this man, Jesus, who was made a little
lower than the angels. What? What condescension? I've been thinking about this
today. What is the chief creation of God? What is the chief creation
of God? The man Christ Jesus. His manhood. He was a real man,
real soul, real body. He is the chief, chiefest of
God's creation. He was made a little lower than
the angels for this purpose, for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste
death for every man, that is, everyone, everyone whom he represented. Here is first identification. Identification. You see over
here in verse 16, it says, for verily he took not on him the
nature of angels, He took on the seed of Abraham. He identified
with God's elect. He identified with God's elect.
The Son of God became a man. He became a man. Now, now the
picture, I was reading this today and I thought, now the picture
is starting to come into focus. Now it's starting to clear up.
You see, God made Adam. He made a man, made him after
his own likeness and his own image, and he fell. That was another man made. God created that man, the manhood
of Christ. The son was given, but the child
was what? Born. See, the son's eternal. But the manhood of Christ was
created by God. And that man's not going to fail.
And that man is going to receive the glory and honor from his
Father. And He is going to reign in that
new heaven and new earth as the King. And we are going to reign
in Him. We are going to reign with Him.
With Him. You take Christ out of the picture,
and you just as well go ahead and or evolution or whatever
else you want to believe. If you take Him out of the picture,
nothing rhymes and nothing matches. If you take Him out of the picture,
oh, but if we see Christ, then the picture becomes very clear. When we see Jesus, the man, we begin to understand the purpose
of this whole thing. God is going to populate heaven
with the people just like His Son. And man is truly going to reign
in that new heaven and new earth. And angels are going to be subject
to them. Paul said in Corinthians, we
shall judge angels. They're going to be subject to
the man Christ Jesus. And they're going to be servants
to God's people in that new heaven and new earth. We see Jesus,
the Son of God, identifying himself with us. Look in verse 14. He says here in verse 14, For
as much then as the children, the children of God, are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same,
that through death he might destroy him that hath the power of death,
that is, the devil. He identified with us. He identified with His
people. The Word of God was made flesh.
He really became a man. And why was He made flesh? It
says here, for the suffering of death. The law said, the soul that sinneth
shall surely die. Have you sinned? Have I sinned? All God's children
sinned in Adam, and we just sinned ourselves. Purposely. Purposely. And the law says the
soul that sinneth shall surely die. So our Lord came into this
world, became a man, took upon Him flesh, so that he might suffer
the just for the unjust, and that he might bring us to God.
Bring us to God. He came to make an atonement
for sin. That's what he came for. And it had to be the same nature
of that sin. So he became a man. He became
a man. Here's the message in a nutshell. Christ is the man. He is the
man through whom God's purpose for man will be realized. He's the man. In that new heaven and new earth,
it will be realized in this man, Christ Jesus, in that new heaven
and that new earth wherein dwells righteousness. That's where God's purpose for
man, the creation of man, will be realized. That's when that
happens. It says here that He crowned
him with glory and honor. Where's that first Adam? I believe the Lord saved him.
I do. I believe the Lord saved him. But I tell you this, that second
Adam, is seated in God's right hand.
He's the one crowned. He is the one crowned with glory
and honor. He's the one who has been given
all power and authority and dominion over all. He's been put into
the hands of this man who has identified himself with us. This is our King. This is our
King. And this is what's coming. I
sat and thought about this today. This is what's coming. A new
world. A new world is coming, a new
earth, a new heaven. And the King of that earth, that
new earth and heaven is the man Christ Jesus. And all who he
has redeemed, all you who believe, We'll be there. You'll be there. And you'll be what God purposed
you to be from the beginning. He's crowned him with glory and
honor. He rules over all. A real man,
a real man right now is running the show as we speak. A real
man. Every man that came out of Adam
came out a sinner. Every man that comes out of this
man is righteous. Righteous. And notice here, and
I'll close. It says here that he, by the
grace of God, by the grace of God, he tasted
death for every man. Grace is a driving force in salvation. By the grace of God. It was not
out of obligation. It was not, well, I created Adam.
He messed up. He's my creation. Now we've got
to do something about it. No. He didn't do anything with
the angels or fell, did he? Well, you never hear anybody
complain about that, do you? I've never heard one person get
upset that God did not provide them a Savior. But He did man. Man. God had a special purpose for
creating man in His likeness after His image. He said, let
us make man in our likeness and after our image. Is that what
He said? Listen to Hebrews again. In verse
3, who be in the brightness of his glory, and what? The express image of his person. Adam martyred, but not this one. Not this one. This one didn't mess up. And
upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down, crowned with glory and
honor, sat down. on the right hand of the majesty
on high. That's where He is right now.
That's where He is. That's where we are in Him. And one day we're going to leave
this earth. Time may go on. I don't know.
It may go on another thousand years or whatever. But sooner
or later, He's going to put an end to it. There's going to be
a new heaven, new earth. He's going to be the King. And
we're going to reign on it as kings and priests, that's what
he says. They shall reign as kings and priests on the earth,
the new earth. But here it says, by the grace
of God, he tasted death for every man. Christ's substitutionary
work, now listen, from beginning to end was nothing but pure grace. That's all it was, pure grace. And Christ the man actually tasted death. Now, I
have to die, unless the Lord comes back right now or in a
little while. But I have to die. But in dying, I will not taste
of death. I will not taste of death. And
you won't either. You'll go from here to there.
This body will be laid in the grave just like my house I live
in right now. One day I'll vacate that house.
I won't live in it. And one day I'll vacate this
body. But I'm not going to taste death. And here's why. He did. He tasted death. The believer will not taste death,
but Christ tasted it. And he tasted it in all its bitterness,
in all its horror, he tasted it. Therefore, we won't have to. Because one man, one man did. And he did it for a lot of people.
He did it for a lot of them. He tasted it. He was our forerunner. Somebody said this, I thought
this was good. He was our forerunner in every last detail. Every last detail, He's our forerunner. Even into death. He drank that
bitter cup of death for everyone given to Him. We heard about
that this morning. Those that I was given me, they are thine.
You've given them to me. That's who He tasted death for. And now we can sing, O death,
where is thy sting? Where is thy sting? Our Lord took it away. He took
the stinger out of death. Now this verse does not teach
universal atonement and that he died for every son of Adam.
It doesn't teach that. Not if you keep it in its context,
for listen to verse 13, And again I will put my trust in him, and
again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me, that's
who he tasted death for. The children. He tasted death
for the children of God. He died for the many sons whom
he will bring to glory. That's what he did. We have a lot to look forward
to, don't we? I have to say, I feel so
feeble trying to handle such glorious matters. There is a
new heaven and a new earth. He says here, a new world. A
new world. For Christ is the King of that
new world. The man Christ Jesus. He's the
King of that new world. And everyone, everyone for whom
He tasted death is going to be in that new world. And it's going to be nothing
but righteousness. You're not going to hear of wars,
rapes, killing, hatred. You'll never hear that. It'll
be nothing but righteousness. And everybody will be friendly.
Everybody will be friendly. Everybody will truly be glad
to see you. Well, glad to see you. Sometimes
you are and sometimes you're not. But in that new heaven and new
earth, It's just unimaginable. Unimaginable. All because of this man. The
very purpose of God creating man is realized in the man, Christ
Jesus. And we'll see it someday, those
who believe.