Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor… The supreme thought in these chapters is the superiority of Jesus Christ. Jesus the Mediator is greater than any angel of the old covenant who had acted as mediator, The angels serve, and serve Jesus. They worship, and worship Jesus Jesus is the King of the new age; the angels are only ministering servants in the age. I. WHAT IS MEANT BY THE WORDS " THEY TASTED DEATH FOR EVERY MAN"? The more we think of the Atonement, the more we see its greatness. We are only spelling out the A B C of its meaning. But the thinking man finds out, in every region besides that of religion, his incapacity of thought. Yet incapacity is no plea or reason for giving up thinking. Though the ocean be infinite in depth, yet I will dredge. One thought of Christ stands out prominently in this generation: that He is to us a new life. There may be a danger of accentuating this thought to the exclusion of the "tasting of death." 1. Death is the penalty of human sin. 2. The penalty of death is pronounced by the pre-existent Christ. The whole Trinity assure us that death is the penalty of sin. 3. Death is more than decease — more than shuffling off this mortal coil. The Biblical idea of death is an evolution of penalty. It begins when the soul turns away from God; it intensifies as the tragic life unfolds, till we come to decease; then it follows on where we cannot interpret — face to face with the second death. 4. The real cause of the penalty — the centre of it — is the withdrawal from man of the Spirit of God. Man chooses to sin, and He whose ermine must not be sullied removes far from him. This eternal withdrawal of God is the second death. In the light of this truth think of Jesus' death. He tasted to the full the bitterness of the penalty — withdrawal of His Father's face. For a time there is a chasm between God the Father and God the Son: "Why hast Thou forsaken Me?" II. THIS TASTING OF DEATH HAS BECOME CHRIST'S TITLE TO KINGSHIP. "Crowned with glory and honour." The coronation of Jesus is a royal progress — not a clime nor a century but brings its tribute to Him whose claim is that He tasted death for every man. Literature, music, painting, all crown Him. It is a march of victory. If we would see His coming in power before He comes in glory, this truth must be brought to the front — that He tasted death — and thus we shall see Him crowned with glory and honour. In these days we see the coronation of Jesus going on apace. I rejoice in the spirit of the times. What if we lose our hold on a creed here and there, we need neither star nor moon when the Sun is up. Better anything than stagnation; and on all sides this question raises itself: "What think ye of Christ?" Let us rejoice that God is calling out from this age a new reverence for Jesus, and by and by we shall hear from it the verdict, "I find no fault in this man," until it advances to "My Lord and my God." (Principal Cave.) Parallel Verses KJV: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. |
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