and placed everything under his feet." When God subjected all things to him, He left nothing outside of his control. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. Sermons I. WHAT WE SEE SHOWS US THE POWER WHICH CAN PRODUCE THE DESIRED UNSEEN. God, in saying that all things shall be subjected to Christ, asserts authority. But by the course of his Son Jesus on earth he also manifested power. He took as it were a small section of time and space, and there gave us gracious illustration of what he is ever doing, some of it in the realm of the seen, but much more in that of the unseen. What power there is in the Incarnation! For obvious reasons the Incarnation is mostly connected with thoughts of God's condescension, and the lowly-heartedness of Jesus himself. But these considerations must not blind us to the Incarnation as an illustration of God's power. There is a mysterious power in making Jesus lower than the angels, and if it be true that there is a causal connection between sin and death as a painful experience, then some peculiar power must be involved in bringing the sinless Jesus in contact with the pain of death. Then, of course, there is the instance of power, most impressive and most cheering to us, in the raising of Jesus from the dead. If only we can really believe that God has power over the grave, we shall believe in his final conquest of all that can hurt his people. II. WHAT WE SEE SHOWS US THE PURPOSE EVER WORKING TOWARDS THE DESIRED UNSEEN. The grace of God is manifest as well as the power of God. Jesus not only died; he tasted of death for every one - for every one who could benefit by the tasting of it. He tasted of it that by his resurrection he might show it was not the remediless poison men reckoned it to be. In his love he tasted death, as much as to say to men, "Fear not." We have the Divine purposes in words, but those words are only the more perfect expressions of what we might infer from the works. It is true that "through the ages one increasing purpose runs" - a purpose much higher than that any individual man might form, or the combination of any men. III. WHAT WE SEE SHOWS US PATIENCE WAITING FOP, THE DESIRED UNSEEN. Great is the patience of God - a contrast to our impatience, our haste, our discontent, if we cannot get immediate results. The fullness of time has to be waited for before the Christ can enter the world; the fullness of manhood has to be waited for till he can begin to teach. Jesus himself must have his own time of sufficient seed-sowing before he can go to Jerusalem for the final scene, belay, procrastination, postponement, is what God cannot tolerate where there ought to be decision, but for great steps to be taken in his own mighty plans he can wait the proper time. If we do not yet see all things subjected to Jesus, if indeed the struggle seems often quite the other way, then there is all the more need for us to look at the career of Jesus from Bethlehem to Calvary as an illustration of how God can wait. In making up the cup which Jesus drank, many ingredients had to be waited for. - Y.
A little lower than the angels. — All the forementioned branches of Christ's advancement, which are here. and Isaiah 53:12; Ephesians 4:10; Philippians 2:10, audio sundry other places inferred upon His humiliation, afford unto us sundry considerable observations, as —1. That working and suffering are the way to glory and honour. 2. That works of service and suffering were requisite for man's redemption and salvation (ver. 10). 3. That God was mindful of His Son in His meanest and lowest estate, according to that which is written of the Son in relation to His Father," Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell: neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show Me the path of life," &c. (Psalm 16:10, 11). 4. That all the members of Christ's body have good ground to be confident, that after they have done and endured what God shall call them unto, they shall be recompensed with a crown of glory (1 Peter 5:4). Christ therefore is to be looked on, as well advanced as debased; in His exaltation and in His humiliation; in heaven at His Father's right hand, as well as on the cross, or in the grave; crowned with glory, as well as with thorns (Hebrews 12:1). Thus will our faith be better settled and more strengthened, as Stephen's was, when he "saw the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God" (Acts 7:56). Thus shall we with much patience, contentedness and cheerfulness, do and endure what God by His providence calleth us unto, knowing that if we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with Him (2 Timothy 2:12). (W. Gouge.) It is not material, whether we understand by little, a little measure of inferiority, or little time; for both are true. But the principal thing in these words is, wherein He was made lower than the angels; and that was in this, that He was man and mortal. Man is inferior to an angel as man; and much more as mortal, because the angels never die. Now Christ had the body of a man, and a soul separable from His body till the resurrection; and that was the little time here meant, the time of His mortality. Both might be joined in one divine axiom thus. We see, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that Jesus who for a little time was made lower than the angels.(G. Lawson.) Science may prove the insignificance of this globe in the scale of creation, but it cannot prove the insignificance of man.(B. D'Israeli.) Leisure Hour. The subject of a conversation at which Carlyle was present, but took no part, was the theory of evolution. At length a pause occurring, Carlyle emphatically and with solemnity observed, "Gentlemen, you are well pleased to trace your descent froth a tadpole and an ape but I would say with David, 'Lord, Thou hast made me but a little lower than the angels."(Leisure Hour.) But how is man "little"? He has competent knowledge of the character of God; he is only" a little lower than the angels," and has dominion over all the works of God. He can comprehend the starry heavens; he is Godlike in his original nature; for "in the image of God made He him." The sublime truths which God has revealed to man show what estimate God has of man's capacity and responsibility. A finite creature can insult the majesty of heaven as deliberately and intelligently as the archangel; he can annihilate the authority of God in his own soul, and wherever he has influence; if all finite creatures should do this — and there are no creatures who are not finite — there would be no moral universe, no Divine government.(N. Adams.) I cannot reach the stars with my hands but I pierce beyond them with my thoughts, and if things go on in the illimitable depths of the skies which would shrivel up the imagination like a dead leaf, I am greater than they, for I ask "Why," and look before and after, and draw all things into the tumult of my personal life — the stars in their courses, and the whole past and future of the universe, all thing, as they move in their eternal paths, even as the tiniest pool reflects the sun and the everlasting hills.(Arnold Toynbee.) Man would not be the most distinguished being upon the earth if he were not too distinguished for it.(Goethe.) Scientific Illustrations and Symbols. Too much stress has been laid upon the proud upright position of man, and a great deal has been said and written concerning the sublime aspect of his countenance, and the Godlike dignity of his carriage. A moment's consideration will be sufficient to show that though he looks upwards with ease and facility, he cannot, in this respect, claim any superiority. The eagle, which gazes on the sun with undazzled eye, and makes his pathway among the clouds, yields not in dignity of appearance or power of locomotion to man, who merely walks upon the ground. Can man measure his beauty with the antelope, his speed with the horse, or his strength with the-elephant? It is in virtue of his intellect, of his reason, and not of his bodily form. that he ranks above his fellows. It was in mind, not in body, that "God made man in His own image."(Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.) How in the household are garments quilted and wrought, and curiously embroidered, and the softest things laid aside, and the cradle prepared to greet the little pilgrim of love when it comes from distant regions we know not whence! Now, no cradle for an emperor's child was ever prepared with such magnificence as this world has been for man. It is God's cradle for the race, curiously carved and decorated, flower-strewn and star-curtained.(H. W. Beecher.) All things in subjection. I. GOD WAS MINDFUL, OF THE LIMITS IN WHICH MAN WOULD EXERCISE DOMINION. All God's inanimate creatures serve Him and us by keeping within the limits prescribed for them. The planets have their orbits, the sea its boundary. The limits in which man was to exercise dominion over nature were love and obedience to God. So long as he could say: " O Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth" and render the service flowing from such a homage, so long could it be said of him: "Thou hast put all things under his feet."II. WHEN MAN STEPPED OUT OF THESE LIMITS, THE WORLD REFUSED TO BE LIMITED BY HIM. Truly, we see not yet, or "not now," all things under him. The physician dies of the disease which he studies to cure; the seaman finds his grave in the ocean he has spent his life in learning to rule. Even the body of the Christian is subject to the laws of death and decay. III. ONE MAN HAS KEPT WITHIN THE LIMITS OF LOVE AND OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER AND GOD, AND NATURE THEREFORE OWNS HIM AS HER LORD, He could say: " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me," and therefore He could move amongst disease without danger of contamination, navigate the sea as its Master, and suspend old laws, or create new ones, at His will. The grave could not hold Him; but, from dominion over this world, He ascended to the throne of the universe, even the "right hand of the Majesty on high." How true of Him: " Thou hast set Thy glory above the heavens." Lessons: — 1. If we would rule, we must be ruled. 2. All may find their way back to their lost limits by the generous love of Christ. "He tasted death for every man." 3. Every Christian, in his glorified condition, will have dominion according to his ability to exercise it for his own good, and that of others (Matthew 26:21). (W. Harris.) This agreeth to all men in general, to the faithful in special, whom God hath made kings and lords over all His creatures by Christ But principally it Is to be understood of our Saviour Christ, who is the chief Lord of the world, the King and the Mediator of the Church; He hath all power in heaven and earth. All things, yea, even the devils themselves, are put in subjection under His feet. God hath given Him a name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow (Philippians 2:9). We also by Him; because, we are members of His body and His brethren, we have an interest to all creatures: all things throughout the wide world are ours. The heaven, the earth, the birds, the beasts, the fishes, the trees, the flowers are ours; death is ours; the very devil himself is our slave and subject; God hath put him under our feet.1. Here we may behold the dignity of Christians; all things by Jesus Christ are under our dominion. Oh, what a bountiful God is this, that hath given us so large a possession! Let us sound forth His praises lot it, and use His liberality to His glory. As God said to Peter, "Arise, kill, and eat"; when the sheet full of all kind of creatures was let down to him from heaven; so doth He say to us all, we may freely eat of all creatures whatsoever; but let us not abuse God's creatures to His dishonour and our destruction. Let us use them soberly, religiously, to make us more cheerful in the service of our God. 2. Let us not stand in a slavish scare of any creature; of the stars, the winds, no, not of the devils themselves; for all are put in subjection under our feet by Jesus Christ that loved us, and hath given us a superiority over all; we shall be conquerors over them all; a singular comfort to the faithful! Satan may tempt and assault us, but God will tread him under our feet. 3. For this dominion let us thank the Lord Jesus Christ. Of ourselves we are worth nothing, stark beggars; in Christ and by Christ we have all that we have. Let us magnify Him for it. (W. Jones, D. D.) People HebrewsPlaces JerusalemTopics Anything, Authority, Control, Hast, Implies, Leave, Leaving, Making, Nothing, Outside, Present, Putting, Ruler, Subject, Subjected, Subjecting, Subjection, Though, Universe, Unsubject, Unsubjected, YetOutline 1. We ought to be obedient to Christ Jesus;5. and that because he condescended to take our nature upon himself; 14. as it was necessary. Dictionary of Bible Themes Hebrews 2:8 2069 Christ, pre-eminence 1194 glory, divine and human Library September 22. "We See not yet all Things Put under Him, but we See Jesus" (Heb. Ii. 8, 9). "We see not yet all things put under Him, but we see Jesus" (Heb. ii. 8, 9). How true this is to us all! How many things there are that seem to be stronger than we are, but blessed be His name! they are all in subjection under Him, and we see Jesus crowned above them all; and Jesus is our Head, our representative, our other self, and where He is we shall surely be. Therefore when we fail to see anything that God has promised, and that we have claimed in our experience, let us look up and see it realized … Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth Note B. On the Word for Holiness. Men Chosen --Fallen Angels Rejected The Destroyer Destroyed Christ --Perfect through Sufferings A God in Pain Christ's Work of Destruction and Deliverance. Rev. John H. James. The Song of Christ Communion Broken --Restoration The Unbeliever's Unhappy Condition Guiltless and Without Sin. The Son and the Angels. The Jordan: the Decisive Start. Matthew 3:13-17. Mark 1:9-1Luke "For what the Law could not Do, in that it was Weak through the Flesh, God Sending his Own Son in the Likeness of Sinful Flesh, Circumcision, Temple Service, and Naming of Jesus. The Child Jesus Brought from Egypt to Nazareth. Letter iv. You Reply to the Conclusion of My Letter: "What have we to do with Routiniers?... "And for Sin Condemned Sin in the Flesh. " How Christ is to be Made Use Of, as the Way, for Sanctification in General. Christianity The Essay which Brings up the Rear in this Very Guilty Volume is from The... Jesus Makes a Preaching Tour through Galilee. Characters and Names of Messiah How Christ is to be Made Use of as Our Life, in Case of Heartlessness and Fainting through Discouragements. 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