Hebrews 2:8 says, “Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he subjected all things unto him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we see not yet all things subjected to him.” This is the writer’s observation of our world as it existed in the time the Hebrew letter was written. And it must be added, it is the present condition of the world we now live in. Has the Scripture which said, “He put all things in subjection under his feet” failed? Of course not. Not all will submit to God’s law, but all are indeed subject to that law. Those who refuse to obey His law will pay a tragic price for their disobedience. The last enemy to be subjected to Jesus is “death” (1 Corinthians 15:26), and with that every enemy will then yield to the law they flaunted while they lived. They will stand before God to give account to Him for the deeds they did in the body (John 5:27-29), and those who refused His Word will be cast into the lake of fire. Then, every soul will have been subjected to Christ.
The passage from which the phrase, “Thou didst put all things in subjection under his feet” is found first in Psalm 8. The writer revealed that while nothing or no one is exempt from being subjected to Him, he explained that that complete submission has not yet taken place.
While we do not yet see all things subjected to Christ, we still see Christ exalted. The writer said, “But we behold him who hath been made a little lower than the angels, even Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). Paul wrote of Christ and the exalted place God put Him because He made redemption possible for every lost man by His death. He said,“Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given unto him the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shalt bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9-11). Jesus is now seated at the Father’s right hand. Today man can hear or reject His voice. Today not all things have been subjected to Him. Jesus is still in an exalted place: at the Father’s right hand, confidently awaiting the day of judgment when everything and everyone will be finally subjected to His will.
Jesus deserves the praise of man for His sacrifice He made for us. As the writer commented further in the book, “It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). The blood of Jesus is able to do what the blood of bulls and goats cannot. But, for Jesus to die, to shed His blood, it was essential that He be clothed with flesh as man is. This was the writer’s next point: “For it became him, for whom are all things and through whom are all things in bringing many sons unto glory to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren” (Hebrews 2:10). “He that sanctifies” is Christ; “He that is sanctified” is man and the two are “all of one.” The “one” of which He that sanctifieth and “they” which are sanctified is not flesh. Christ partook of flesh because man was already of flesh.
That oneness or likeness between Christ and man is traced to God’s words in Genesis: “And God said, Let us make man in our likeness” (Gen. 1:26) and “God created man in his image” (Genesis 1:27). The Father has never been flesh and yet, before Jesus ever came to earth in the flesh, He and His Father bore the image of man. Man bears the image of God. The likeness Christ and His Father shares with man is that both God and men have an eternal spirit.
“Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also in like manner partook of the same; that through death he might bring to naught him that has the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hebrews 2:14-15). Jesus died to provide a sacrifice to pay for the sins of man; He was resurrected so that the resurrection would be a living hope to those who followed Him. God was able to raise Jesus from the dead. He proved that He was, and thus proved He is able to raise us from the dead. Still, our hope is not simply in the fact that God is able to raise all from the dead. Our hope is confident because He has promised that someday He will also raise us (John 6:40).
Jim McDonald