Hebrews 2:7 You made him a little lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of your hands: I. GOD WAS MINDFUL, OF THE LIMITS IN WHICH MAN WOULD EXERCISE DOMINION. All God's inanimate creatures serve Him and us by keeping within the limits prescribed for them. The planets have their orbits, the sea its boundary. The limits in which man was to exercise dominion over nature were love and obedience to God. So long as he could say: " O Lord, how excellent is Thy name in all the earth" and render the service flowing from such a homage, so long could it be said of him: "Thou hast put all things under his feet." II. WHEN MAN STEPPED OUT OF THESE LIMITS, THE WORLD REFUSED TO BE LIMITED BY HIM. Truly, we see not yet, or "not now," all things under him. The physician dies of the disease which he studies to cure; the seaman finds his grave in the ocean he has spent his life in learning to rule. Even the body of the Christian is subject to the laws of death and decay. III. ONE MAN HAS KEPT WITHIN THE LIMITS OF LOVE AND OBEDIENCE TO THE FATHER AND GOD, AND NATURE THEREFORE OWNS HIM AS HER LORD, He could say: " My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me," and therefore He could move amongst disease without danger of contamination, navigate the sea as its Master, and suspend old laws, or create new ones, at His will. The grave could not hold Him; but, from dominion over this world, He ascended to the throne of the universe, even the "right hand of the Majesty on high." How true of Him: " Thou hast set Thy glory above the heavens." Lessons: — 1. If we would rule, we must be ruled. 2. All may find their way back to their lost limits by the generous love of Christ. "He tasted death for every man." 3. Every Christian, in his glorified condition, will have dominion according to his ability to exercise it for his own good, and that of others (Matthew 26:21). (W. Harris.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:WEB: You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor. |
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