Sermons from the Epistle to the Hebrews

The Taste of Death

Hebrews 2:5-9

December 3, 2000

Hebrews moves through a series of insightful teaching concerning Jesus Christ to searing exhortations applied to believers. There is never a doubt that the author's subject is Jesus Christ and his supremacy. Yet in the midst of this he never seeks to offer lofty credentials for Christ as though he needed to confound the sophists of his day. The continuity of his teaching is found in doctrine being applicable to believers in every situation.

Two major issues must be kept in mind while considering our text. First, the writer sticks with his purpose of demonstrating the supremacy of Jesus Christ over angels (and any other substitute). Jews who proposed the idea of the superiority of angels as mediators and authorities over believers' lives likely influenced this church. Some scholars speculate that they were inspired by the Qumran sect of Dead Sea Scroll fame that esteemed a hierarchy of angels in the role of salvation. They thought that "the world to come" would belong to the rule of angels. Hence they established elaborate schemes of angelic activity, authority, and supremacy. So the writer goes to great lengths to expose the error of this theology, explaining how it undermines the whole faith and assurance of these believers, and how it stands in conflict with the Old Testament revelation.

Second, the writer is concerned to prepare these believers for an outbreak of persecution that was taking place or soon to transpire under the evil instigation of the Emperor Nero. The ancient Roman historian, Tacitus, reported on Nero's assault upon the Christians of this era: "Nero...punished with every refinement the notoriously depraved Christians (as they were popularly called). Their originator, Christ, had been executed in Tiberius' reign by the governor of Judea, Pontius Pilate. But in spite of this temporary setback the deadly superstition had broken out afresh, not only in Judea (where the mischief had started) but even in Rome" [David DeSilva, Perseverance in Gratitude, 112 fn. 55]. It was in the environs of Rome that the persecution would begin and quickly spread throughout the empire. It is evident that the believers needed comfort and consolation for facing such a time. Nero was known for his disregard for dignity and respect, so it was certain that however he leveled persecution it would come with vengeance. So how would this biblical writer walk the tight rope of correcting theological error while strengthening the weak hands of believers? They were not in a situation where they were interested in hearing a dry-as-dust theological lecture. They needed answers; answers that had the authority of a message from God as a bulwark against the crashing waves of persecution.

Simply put, the writer insists that Christians must discipline their minds to see Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of all God intends for his people. It is in the grasping and glorying of this truth that believers will find profound satisfaction in the broad range of persecutions and trials that are part of life. How do believers find this comfort in Christ?

I. God's intention for man

We have previously considered that this text is a continuation of where the writer stopped in 1:14 in order to interject his exhortation (2:1-4). While they were drooping with a consciousness of having been beaten down theologically by Jewish false teachers and crushed under the weight of looming persecution by Nero, the writer brings these believers into the place of divine consolation. Imagine for a moment that you were part of this small contingency of Christians living in the shadows of Rome, with all of the religion and philosophy of the day glaring in opposition to you. Everywhere you turned you faced conflict; you were denied work, lodging, assistance, and friendship. You were talked about, criticized, laughed at, and made the object of constant ridicule. Now you hear the rumblings of physical persecution. You know that Nero lacks sanity and will impulsively act to satisfy his own desires. And you know that the pent-up emotions of many Romans would love nothing better than to vent anger upon you. In light of this, how do you go on with joy and peace in your countenance?

The writer begins by pointing our attention to God's intention for man in the first place.

1. Nobler than the angels

In contrast to angels, man stands in a nobler position before the Creator. "For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking." The phrase, "the world to come," refers to the age of the Messiah. It contained both present and future dimensions, for the writer and audience understood that Messiah had already come in Jesus Christ. They were living in "the world to come." It was an era that would restore what was begun at Creation. He affirms, contrary to the Qumran sect that it would not be angels that would rule as stewards over the world in the messianic age, but the redeemed of the Lord.

If we drift back to Genesis one and the scene of creation, we find that it was not angels made in God's image, but man (Gen. 1:26-28).

Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

The creation of man is the apex of God's creation: more important than even the creation of the earth and the expanse. For in creating man, God did so that man might reflect and mirror his own moral nature. Man was to be like God. That means that God's intention in creating man made him nobler than the angels. For all that we know and see of God in terms of his moral nature, his creativity, his intelligence, his purity, his ability to make ethical choices was to be reflected in man. Angels are servants. Man alone is created in the image of God. That's why the writer quotes Psalm 8 that declares of man, "You have crowned him with glory and honor." That crowning came with the impress of God's image stamped upon man.

2. Significant by God's image

This is where man finds his significance, that God creates him in his image. The writer ponders Psalm 8, a psalm that extols the majesty of the Lord by contrasting it with the lowliness of man. "What is man, that You remember him? Or the son of man, that You are concerned about him?" He rightly considers the majesty of God who created the heavens with its billions and billions of galaxies, filled with billions and billions of stars. A God who can do that certainly does not need man. As a matter of fact, he does not need anything! Yet this same God, transcendent above all creation, gives thought to the individual man. That seems to be the emphasis of the text, rather than simply upon mankind, that the Lord is setting his thoughts and concern upon the individual man.

These believers who were sinking so low were to turn their attention to the riveting fact: they were significant to the God who made them in his own image. They were not to think that the circumstances before them implied divine abandonment. They were not to think that all hope was gone. This God, who had no motivation from outside his own being, had set his concern upon them. As the writer adds later, "For assuredly He does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendent of Abraham" (2:16).

3. Stewards over nature

It was not the angelic realm that has been entrusted with the managerial responsibility for creation. This responsibility has been delegated to man at creation. The "dominion" given to man over the animal and natural kingdoms shows that God's nature to rule and govern is part of the image stamped upon man. "You...have appointed him over the works of Your hands; You have put all things in subjection under his feet." In these verses is the sense of awe felt by the Psalmist, as he considered the transcendent majesty of the Lord, yet he had entrusted managerial responsibilities to man over the works of creation. We see Adam exercising this responsibility as he cultivated and kept the garden, then engaged in naming the animals. All of the animal kingdom was submissive to Adam's rule.

The picture painted for us in this text is one that casts us back to the period before the fall of man. It reminds us of what belonged to man in creation but what was robbed by the fall. Yet what sin robbed, God shall restore through Jesus Christ. Along with that first-century audience, we can find help in the boiling cauldron of life. For if our eyes are fixated upon temporal circumstances we can easily despair. But if we will look at the larger picture, what God has done in creation and redemption, we will be encouraged to press on in faithfulness to Jesus Christ whatever befalls us.

II. Man's failure before God

The language is simple, but clear. While the scene of creation sets forth the grandeur of being made in the image of God, the fall has distorted it. "But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him."

1. But now

"But now" points to the present era. It is as though the audience went along with the writer for just so long when they interrupted and said, "Wait a minute! The animal and natural kingdoms are not submissive to us! We are barely making it by the sweat of our brows. Everywhere we turn is thorns and thistles." That is right. For we are living in the realm of but now, a time in which we are affected by the fall. That is the scene that looms before us. While God created man in his image, man's representative-Adam-rebelled against God and fell into sin. All of the promise in creation has been distorted by the ugliness of sin. All of Adam's posterity fell in his action. Wayne Grudem offers a fair summary of what happened in the fall:

Since man has sinned, he is certainly not as fully like God as he was before. His moral purity has been lost and his sinful character certainly does not reflect God's holiness. His intellect is corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding; his speech no longer continually glorifies God; his relationships are often governed by selfishness rather than love.... Though man is still in the image of God, in every aspect of life some parts of that image have been distorted or lost [Bible Doctrine 190].

The effect of the fall leaves its mark everywhere. We see it in the natural realm in the ways we have failed to be good stewards over creation. We see it in the family, as the disintegration of the home no longer mirrors the unity of the Godhead as it was intended to do. We see it in the business world where it is fair game to trample over others for selfish gain. We see it in the governmental realm where law is ignored and human dignity sacrificed in a raw thirst for power and control. And we see it in our own lives where the tendency to sin outweighs the passion for holiness. As Chesterton expressed it, "Whatever is or is not true about men, this one thing is certain-man is not what he was meant to be" [Kent Hughes, Hebrews: An Anchor for the Soul, I, 58]. Will the image of God be fully restored in us?

2. Not yet

The writer answers the question, "But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him." Not yet does not mean that it shall never happen; instead it anticipates what God will certainly do in the redeemed. This sentence is a transition to show us how the image of God will be restored in man and how man will ultimately live in constant obedience and glorification of his Creator.

Paul expressed this same thought in Romans 8:18-25. Here he brings together the anticipation of the believer for the complete restoration of the divine image in his life and the anticipation of creation itself to be delivered from the corruption of sin spawned through Adam's fall.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.

That last statement capsules the Hebrew writer's argument for these believers, "But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it." We are living in the realm of not yet, but we are to live with the anticipation of the complete revelation of what Jesus Christ has accomplished for us in his redemptive work. So we press on. Trials come. But we press on. Things cave in around us. But we press on. Life does us dirty. But we press on: for we have an anticipation of what lies beyond the not yet.

The certainty of our hope rests in Jesus Christ. It is not a hope in angels, for they cannot mediate for us or offer redemption to us. Our hope of being restored to the image of God in its fullness is through the One who is the image of God bodily, Jesus Christ.

III. God's triumph in Christ

All things are not subjected to man. Creation does not always cooperate with man the creature. But there is One for whom creation bowed in submission. One to whom creation gladly obeyed: Jesus Christ. The writer laid his groundwork to bring us to this one point that we must look to Jesus Christ; we must see him as our great sufficiency and deepest satisfaction. We must not look to angels or to any agency of man. We must look to Jesus Christ.

1. A new Representative

Adam stood before God as humanity's representative. He failed in his responsibility so that the curse of Adam's sin spread to the entire human race. Sin entered the world through him and death followed in its wake to all (Rom. 5:12). The image of God was marred and distorted in Adam; consequently the entire race blurred the image of God. But at the Incarnation an eternal change occurred. "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." We turn away from the marring of the divine image in Adam and his posterity to look at Jesus Christ who tasted death for us as our new Representative.

This writer insists on the necessity of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. He who is very God of very God, who is the final revelation of God, who is heir of all things, creator of the world, and the one who sustains all of creation by the word of his power, this One "was made for a little while lower than the angels." Jesus Christ did not become a new person in the incarnation for he is the same person he has always been from eternity. But he did take on a new nature, one our writer describes as sharing "in flesh and blood" just like all of us (2:14). There was no confusing of his divine and human nature, but one person with two distinct natures. As God, he sustained the world; as Man, he was able to suffer death on our behalf. As God, he existed for eternity; as Man, he entered the realm of time and human suffering. As God, he was able to give infinite value to his work; as Man, he was able to represent the human race before the justice of God.

As Adam represented us before God in the fall, so Jesus Christ represents us before God in redemption. "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous" (Rom. 5:18-19).

2. A destiny with death

The purpose of the incarnation was consummated in the death of Christ. "But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." The writer had earlier quoted the Psalmist who described man in the creation as being "crowned...with glory and honor." But the indignity of sin and the fall left man without this crowning of glory and honor. In the death of Christ this glory and honor was restored to our Representative. Humanity as God originally intended, once again knew the crowning of glory and honor by God through Jesus Christ.

But the price paid for this restoration of dignity and wholeness for us before God was the death of his Son. Our writer describes Christ as tasting death for everyone. We often think of tasting as a slight touching of the lips and tongue to glimpse the savor of something. We might see a food that we've never had before, so we take a small portion-as small as we can reasonably handle, and put it to our lips. If it disappoints us, we quickly expel it. The imagery used here is quite different. It does not mean that Jesus took only the slightest effect of the agony of death, and then quickly expelled it because of its unsavory character. Instead it means, "to experience something to the fullest measure." It was this same imagery that our Lord used with the disciples to explain the purpose of his death (John 18:10-11). As he was arrested in the Garden, Peter drew his sword to fight back, striking the high priest's slave. Jesus responded, "Put the sword into the sheath; the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?" Jesus Christ drank the cup to fullest measure. All that the Father required for our redemption, all of the fierceness of his wrath, Jesus Christ drank. The entire price necessary to satisfy divine justice, Jesus Christ drank. Every drop to the last dreg, he drank so that "He might taste death for everyone." He stood in our place as our Representative to taste death for us.

3. The demonstration of grace

Our writer tells us that this was a demonstration of God's grace, "so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." The character of what Jesus Christ did at the cross cannot be found in a claim to merit on our part. We gave him no instruction to bear our sin before God. Nor did we give him any motivation by altruism on our part. It was not that he found us loving or faithful or worthy of such a sacrifice. It came out of the abundance of God's grace.

Grace puts the emphasis on God's action on your behalf. It was not angels that mediated before God for you; they are incapable of doing so. It was not some other person, a so-called saint or Mary or a preacher or a parent that mediated before God. It was not the church that tasted death for you. It was Jesus Christ alone, by the grace of God that tasted the pangs of eternal death on your behalf. So your salvation is not found anywhere else. Do you see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, as having tasted death for you? Then cast your trust upon him.

Conclusion

If God has shown incomparable grace to you by giving his Son to taste death on your behalf, then why should you despair? If Christ has fulfilled creation's promise and begun that process of restoration in us through redemption to be completed at our glorification, then why should you despair? Because he has tasted death for us, we can press on.

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