Hebrews 2:7b

June 23, 2013 Evening:

Title: Crown Him!

Old Testament Passage: 1 Chronicles 1:1

Gospel Passage: Luke 3:38

Sermon Text: Hebrews 2:7b ...you have crowned him with glory and honor,

Sermon Point: The destiny of Jesus and His church is to be crowned with glory and honor

… you have crowned him with glory and honor, …

The author of Hebrews gives us a significant quotation from Psalm 8 in the second chapter of his letter. We are in the middle of that quotation. Psalm 8 as an Old Covenant reflection on the first creation told the worshiper of the wonder of our nature as image-bearers of God. But there was another meaning of Psalm 8 that would have been harder to understand for Israel that has now become more obvious to us because of the developments in the history of salvation surrounding Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

The author of this letter quotes Psalm 8 immediately after reminding his readers that he is speaking about the world that is coming into being. There are at least two worlds that we need to distinguish if we are to understand the phrase before us this evening. The first is Adam's world, and it is a world that has been sadly damaged by sin and death. That world is fading away. Yet ever since the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit the world of the second Adam has been coming into being. You and I live between two worlds. We are citizens of a new world reserved for us already above but our mission right now is here below. Psalm 8 can be understood in terms of the old world, but it also can be understood in terms of the new world.

Old World

Adam was created in the image of God with dominion over the creatures. The first man had an exalted role for someone who himself came from the dust. After sin entered the old world it could be said, “to dust you shall return.” In between conception and death humanity had the wonder of life including the possibility to worship and obey God. Life was a crown of glory and honor for all who were in the line of Adam. We had speech, reasoning, and the longing for something more.

The Problem

Though eternity was placed within our hearts death was an ever-present reminder of the end of our God-given crown of glory and honor. Man might build a tower to the heavens. Could man defeat death? Humanity had shown tremendous potential from the earliest generations of existence. We had language, art, science, and engineering. We were capable of addressing successfully so many of the difficulties that seemed to hold us back, though our solutions had unintended negative consequences. But we had a problem in two parts: We had death within our souls evidenced in our sin and we had death within our bodies slowly taking away our glory over the course of even very long lives.

New World

Jesus the Messiah did not come from the dust and He did not return to dust. He came from heaven. He entered Adam's world with a mission. That mission involved going low in order to save us through His death. Though He said, “It is finished,” His work for us continued even beyond His grave. He was crowned with glory and honor through His resurrection and ascension. Jesus has done what Adam was unable to do: He conquered sin and death. We are doubly crowned with the blessings not only of the old creation but also with the eternal honor and glory of a new world. We have hope. We have joy.