Psalm 8; Heb. 2:5-9
In our consideration of the title of the Son of man, we necessarily referred to this subject, but we propose now to carry it farther and to call attention to the actual establishment of the supremacy of Christ as the Son of man in the coming age. The Scriptures deal largely with it, and open out before the believer the blessed prospect of the coming and universal glory of Christ in the world to come; and at the same time we are never allowed to forget that His exaltation is the need and consequence of His humiliation and death upon the cross. For example, we read in Philippians 2, “He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a [or ‘the] name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:8-11).
One other remark is necessary for the understanding of the subject. It must not for one moment be supposed that all the things which are put under the feet of the Son of man are of the same extent in all the scriptures in which they are mentioned. Thus in Psalm 8, whatever might have been in the mind of the Spirit, they do not appear to go wider than dominion over the whole earth. Thus we read, “Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.” But when we come to the epistle to the Ephesians it is evident that the circle is enlarged to include things in heaven as well as things upon earth. It accordingly runs, “That in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things” (better, “head up” all things) “in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” (Eph. 1:10; see also verses 20-23). Then also, if we refer again to Philippians 2, we find that things under the earth are also to be subjected to Christ. Of the limits of His sway there will be no end, as they will be coextensive with the whole universe, for nothing is excepted, as Paul teaches, save Him, God the Father who put all things under Him (1 Cor. 15:27).
This will help us in some measure to apprehend the meaning of the words, “He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things” (Eph. 4:10). For when all things in the universe are put under His feet, He will surely flood them all with the light and blessedness of His own glory. Hence the language of the hymn —
“Of the vast universe of bliss,
The Center Thou and Sun;
The eternal theme of praise is this,
To heaven’s beloved One:
Worthy, O Lamb of God, art Thou,
That every knee to Thee should bow.”
Before proceeding farther, it will be profitable to consider the source of this gift of all things to Christ. There are several scriptures, in different connections, which reveal this, but we take, first of all, the one at the end of John 3. The Baptist’s testimony closes, without doubt, with verse 4. The Evangelist then, as guided by the Spirit of God, says, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand” (vs. 35). The Lord Himself, in Matthew’s Gospel, speaks in the same way — “All things are delivered unto Me of My Father” (Matt. 11:27; see also Luke 10:22); but it was John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, who was commissioned to reveal directly the Father’s delight in the Son as the fount and source of the gift. This divine complacency in the Son is strikingly illustrated in another scripture, as also the delight of the Son in the Father. Answering the Jews who, in their wicked state, were seeking to kill Him, “because He not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God,” the Lord said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth” (John 5:18-20). It is true that it is of Christ as the Son that these things are said; but surely it is of the Son as become man, if not presented here in the character of the Son of man. In the very next chapter, however, He the Son speaks of Himself as the Son of man, because there His rejection and death are distinctly in view. But the scripture has only been cited to point out more clearly that it was because of the Father’s complacency in His beloved Son that He has decreed that all things should be put under His feet.
It should also be borne in mind, if we would enter into the thoughts of God, that there are two grounds of the bestowal upon Christ of this universal supremacy. In the first place, it was God’s answer to man’s rejection. Yes, it was through the sufferings of the cross that Christ reached His throne. It is on this account that in Revelation 5, where the Lord takes the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, He is seen as “a Lamb as it had been slain.” The aspect presented, however, in John’s Gospel is, that the gift proceeding from the Father’s heart according to His eternal counsels for the glory of His beloved Son, the Son of man must be lifted up before He could take up His inheritance. What a subject for meditation! And how plain it is that, since all God’s thoughts circle around His beloved Son, we cannot be in fellowship with the Father’s heart unless the Son be the absorbing Object of our affections.
We may now proceed to consider the various steps the Lord takes before He assumes His inheritance. These are pointed out very clearly in Hebrews 2, where Psalm 8 is cited, interpreted, and applied. We are here, therefore, under divine guidance; and we cannot, therefore, be mistaken. If we give the whole passage, the reader will all the more readily comprehend its import. It is as follows: “For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou visitest Him? Thou madest Him a little lower than the angels; Thou crownedst Him with glory and honor, and didst set Him over the works of Thy hands: Thou halt put all things in subjection under His feet. For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we see not yet all things put under Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (or, everything).
The point of the Apostle then is, after having stated that the world to come is not put in subjection to angels, to show that, according to Psalm 8, it is put under man. Having given the psalm at large, in order to place the matter beyond question, he exclaims, “But now we see not yet all things put under Him.” This was patent even to the most superficial observer. How then was the psalm to be fulfilled? This he goes on to demonstrate: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower that the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.” Jesus then is the Man, the Son of man (which Adam was not), under whom all things are to be put.
This having been made evident, the steps are given by which Christ as the Son of Man attains His supremacy. The first of these is His incarnation. This is expressed in the striking language, which needs to be weighed to discover its force and beauty, “Made a little lower than the angels.” This could only apply to the form which our blessed Lord was pleased to take when He came into this world, to the body, in fact, which God had prepared for Him; for, as we read, angels were His attendants and ministers in the days of His flesh (Matt. 4:11; Luke 22:43). There are several scriptures which show the depth to which He descended, in His blessed grace, even in this respect, Isaiah, for example, says that His visage was so marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men, the effect in this case, it may be, of His passing through this sin-stricken world, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, inasmuch as He took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. Even so, it illustrates the statement, and Paul tells us that, in our blessed Lord’s stoop from the highest height to the lowest depth, He took upon Him the form of a bondsman (Phil. 2). Surely then He was made a little lower than the angels, and our hearts might well pause to admire and adore, as we think of this grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich.
The next step is manifestly His death: “Made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.” There were two reasons for the suffering of death in the Lord’s pathway to His exaltation and supremacy in the world to come. In Hebrews 1 we read that He was appointed “heir of all things”; and hence it was a divine necessity that He should take up all the liabilities that lay upon His inheritance before He could possess it. This, in fact, is implied in the clause in verse 9 — “that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man {thing}” — not only for every man, but also for everything that went to make up His inheritance. Paul touches upon this in Colossians where he says, “And, having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven” (Col. 1:20). And in this passage is also found the owner, the first and foremost, ground for the suffering of death — having made peace by the blood of His cross, through glorifying God concerning the sin which had come into the world. On this foundation God can righteously come in and bring everything into suitability to Himself, into ordered beauty before Him, so that He can rest in perfect complacency and delight in the whole scene, the universe of bliss, which has been subject to Christ, and which He will irradiate with the effulgence of His glory.
A word or two may be given upon the remarkable connection of this scripture. After saying, “that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man,” the Apostle proceeds, “For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” The significant point is the introduction of the “many sons” whom God is bringing unto glory, in connection with the “all things,” thus opening out the whole scope of the purposes of God, whether in regard to the “all things,” or to the “many sons” who are under the leadership of the Captain of their salvation. It is, we cannot doubt, to teach that it was requisite for the glory of God in the accomplishment of His purposes (“it became Him”) that the Lord Jesus should pass through the suffering of death. It was in this way that an immutable basis was laid for the establishment of the universe of bliss, wherein all the glory of God will be displayed, and where Christ will be the Center and Sun of all. The reader will also observe the association and identification of Christ with the “many sons” as another reason of His being made perfect through sufferings, for both “He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren.”