Jesus crowned with Glory and Honour!
We see Jesus - do we?
Verse 9 begins: But we see Jesus. This leads us to the first and most important question for us today. Do we really see Jesus? Is He central in our view or do loads of other things distract us? There are so many calls on our time and attention: families, health, jobs, homes even the fear of terrorism. It is so easy for Jesus to slip from our field of view. If He has then we need to consciously refocus on Jesus - and keep Him at the centre of our view.
Also, as we get older our eyesight deteriorates. This can happen so slowly that we don’t realise how bad it is until we realise that we just can’t read a sign, or our arms have shrunk so that we can’t read our newspaper or book! We need to spot it if our spiritual eyesight goes fuzzy or cloudy. Reading is a good test. If reading the Bible gives a headache, or we can’t focus and make sense of the words we need specialist help. The sooner the deterioration is recognised the sooner we can seek expert help so that we can focus properly again.
Peter began to sink once he took his eyes off the Lord and focussed on the wind and waves, but when He cried out to the Lord to save Him And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him Mt 14:28-33. If we recognise a problem then the solution is the same for us today.
How do we see Jesus?
Although it is good to see Jesus in our minds, it is not enough. How we see Him is crucial. Many see Him only as a good man or someone who was unjustly executed by a repressive government. To others He is thought of only as the little baby in Bethlehem or as perpetually suffering dying agonies on the cross. To many He is a remote figure, too great to be approached. This is why Roman Catholics put Mary and the saints between us and Christ as go betweens - mediators.
Sad as these misconceptions are what matters is how you and I see Christ. In chapter 1 the focus was on the unimaginable glory of Jesus’ deity; now the book moves to the glory and honour that He has earned through His obedience and suffering. He always had glory and honour because of his position as the eternal Son of God. But, because of His obedience and love, demonstrated when He went to the cross in our place, He has become even more glorious difficult as that is to grasp.
The Father has always been immeasurably proud of His beloved Son, but never so much as when Jesus demonstrated the extent of His love and obedience by his death on Calvary.
"But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels." How these words should melt our hearts! That He, the Creator of angels, the Lord of them, the One who before His incarnation had been worshipped by them, should be "made lower" than they; and this for our sakes! Our hearts must indeed be dead if they are not thrilled and filled with praise as we ponder that fathomless stoop.
It was a death in which He fully satisfied the demands of infinite holiness and justice. This was a task which no mere creature was capable of performing. Behold here, then, the wonder of wonders: Christ undertook a work which was far above the power of all the angels, and yet to effect it He was made lower than them! If ever power was made perfect in weakness, it was in this! …The "crown of thorns" which man gave Him, has been answered by the "crown of glory and honour" that God has bestowed upon Him. The humbled Christ is humiliated no longer; the Throne of the Universe is where He is now seated.
Have you "crowned with glory and honour" Him whom the world has cast out? Do you, in a practical way, own Him as your Lord and Master? Is His glory and honour ever the paramount consideration before you? Is He receiving from you the devotion and adoration of a worshipping heart? "Worthy is the Lamb." O may He, indeed, occupy the throne of our hearts and reign as King over our lives. In what esteem does the Father hold His once humiliated Son: He has crowned Him with glory and honour; then what must He yet do with those who "despise and reject" Him?” (Pink)
Why did Jesus come to the earth?
There are several answers given to this question in the Bible, indeed there are two in this chapter. Last time we saw that verse 10 tells us that Jesus became a man to make Him perfect through sufferings. While on earth He experienced what it was like to face the ordinary trials of human life. This means that Jesus understands us for He has faced all the sort of problems that we face and knows just how we feel. This morning I want us to look at the one given in verses 9 and 14.
i) To taste death for every man
The amazing truth of v9 is that Jesus became a man with the intention of dying! He was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death v9. His death was no tragic accident; it was planned. Before creation God knew man would sin and that the only way to deal with our sin would be for Jesus to die. This is why He is described as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13:8.
Knowing this the Father and Son still created us! This is grace indeed. We did not deserve God’s favour and yet Christ came and died, paying the penalty for our sin - to make propitiation for the sins of the people v17 - that we might go free.
What kind of love is this,
That gave itself for me?
I am the guilty one,
Yet I go free.
What kind of love is this?
A love I’ve never known.
I didn’t even know His name,
What kind of love is this?
What kind of m an is this,
That died in agony?
He who had done no wrong
Was crucified for me.
What kind of m an is this,
Who laid aside His throne;
That I may know the love of God?
What kind of man is this?
By grace I have been saved;
It is the gift of God.
He destined m e to be His son,
Such is His love.
No eye has ever seen,
No ear has ever heard,
Nor has the heart of man conceived
What kind of love is this.
ii) To destroy the devil
The second reason hinges around the battle that was fought on the cross. 14 That through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. As J.N. Darby put it “Not only is He glorious in heaven, but He has conquered Satan in the very place where he exercised his sad dominion over men, and where the judgment of God lay heavily upon men.”
I want us to look at 3 points:
First, what is meant by the Devil having the power of death? As RA Torrey put it - Every cemetery, every funeral, and every separation by death owes its existence to the devil. Death blights our world only because Satan led Adam and Eve astray. Human death is the consequence of the sin that resulted as is that of animals and even plants. In this sense Satan murdered Adam and Eve, so Jesus called him a murderer from the beginning, Jn 8:44.
This fits with the meaning of the original Greek which suggests that Satan was sovereign of the realm of death, not that he had the power to inflict death or determine its timing. In this sense we can call Satan the prince of death (he is also called the prince of the power of the air, Eph 2:2). What a contrast with Christ - the Prince of life Acts 3:15! We need to be careful that we do not ascribe too much power to Satan. He does not have control over when we die - that is in God’s hands.
I kill and I make alive Dt 32:39
The LORD kills and makes alive 1 Samuel 2:6
From the story of Job, however, it is possible that Satan is sometimes given limited power over people’s lives. God told Satan:
"Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." Job 1:12
"Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life." Job 2:6
I am glad that, like David, I can say My times are in Your hand Ps 31:15. Christians live until God’s purposes for us on Earth are completed. We serve the Prince of Life not the prince of death.
The second question is what the passage means when it says that Christ has destroyed the Devil. The Greek word katargeo means to render ineffective or bring to nothing. This fits well with
1 John 3:8 which tells us that Jesus came into the world that He might destroy the works of the devil.
The victory was won on Calvary and, at the very moment when Jesus rose from the dead Satan’s defeat was demonstrated. Judgement and sentence have been pronounced. Jesus told us that hell is the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels Mt 25:41 and there he will be cast for all eternity at the end of time The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone Rev 20:10.
Satan is a spent force, a defeated foe. This does not mean that he is not dangerous. He is like a defeated leader that orchestrates destructive guerrilla warfare or terrorism from his hiding place, because he can’t manage a frontal attack. Peter describes him as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour 1Pet 5:8. James tells us to submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you Jas 4:7.
The final question is what difference this all makes to us. A very important question! The point stressed in Heb 2 is that Jesus determined to 15 release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
Death sparks a fear in our hearts doesn’t it? That is why it is a taboo subject. We don’t like to dwell on our own mortality! That is why there is a tremendous industry involved in keeping us alive longer, or at least making us look 20 years younger! Why are we so afraid of death? People in every culture have wanted to live forever, whether pyramid-building Pharaohs or those who pay to be frozen after their death, in case future science can bring them back.
• Firstly there is the obvious and natural fear of the pain which is sometimes involved. Pain killing drugs makes this less of a problem for many, but the advances of medical science can also mean that we cling painfully to life for much longer.
• Secondly God gave us, and all animals a strong survival instinct.
• Thirdly there is the fear of separation from our loved ones and their pain.
• Finally there is a fear of the unknown. What happens when we die? Is death the end? We generally don’t like the unknown and it makes us feel uncomfortable. It’s bad enough taking up a new job, but here there is also a fear of judgement. Many people have a vague hope that they will end up in heaven, but no assurance that their sins have been forgiven. How about you? If you were to be called into eternity today where would you be? Do you know that your sins are forgiven and that you would spend eternity with Christ in heaven?
Spurgeon O child of God, death hath lost its sting, because the devil’s power over it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Ask grace from God, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Redeemer’s death, thou mayst be strengthened for that dread hour. …It is sweet to die in the Lord: it is a covenant-blessing to sleep in Jesus. Death is no longer banishment, it is a return from exile, a going home to the many mansions where the loved ones already dwell.
How long shall that soul be tossed upon the waves before it comes to that sea which knows no storm? Listen to the answer, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” Yon ship has just departed, but it is already at its haven. It did but spread its sail and it was there….When the eyes close on earth they open in heaven. … Then, O child of God, what is there for thee to fear in death, seeing that through the death of thy Lord its curse and sting are destroyed? And now it is but a Jacob’s ladder whose foot is in the dark grave, but its top reaches to glory everlasting.
For the Christian death is not a journey into the unknown. It is going home to be with Jesus for ever!
Jesus said: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 "And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die." John 11:25,26. He also asked Mary: “Do you believe this?”
The same question comes to you and me as we approach the end of our lives. If we have placed our trust completely in Jesus and know that our sins are forgiven then there need be no more fear of death.
I’m not asking if you believe Jesus, existed or even if you believe what the Bible says about Him, but have you trusted yourself entirely to Him? Just as you must to a surgeon who is about to operate on your heart. To have no operation would result in your death. To be operated on by an incompetent surgeon would result in your death. So too in the spiritual realm Jesus Christ is our only hope and our faith in Him must be complete.
1 Corinthians 15: 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." 55 "O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We do not need to be afraid for He has tasted death for us. He faced it in all of its bitterness, but He was not overcome or vanquished by it. Death could not hold Him. His resurrection is our assurance that the sting is gone for those who are saved by His death. Are you?
Ps 23: 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
