I recently saw a re-run of one of my favourite movies, Apollo 13, starring Tom Hanks and those immortal words "Houston, we have a problem."
I was struck by how the ground crew worked tirelessly together to save the lives of these three men, as well as the astronauts' calm demeanour.
I was also reminded that, while this was a film, I had seen the real thing, a real lunar landing, on a black and white TV in my grandparents' house in July 1969…... Where would we have been if it hadn't been for 'Radio Rentals'?
I was also reminded that reciting bible verses was the norm for astronauts while in space.
On the night before they were due to splashdown back on earth Buzz Aldrin read from the Old Testament; Psalm 8:3-4
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?
Written by King David, you can imagine him gazing into the sky one night, overwhelmed by what he saw, and attempting to record in some way how insignificant he felt in comparison to the heavenly bodies he was gazing at... Despite growing knowledge of the galaxy we live in, people's sense of awe has not diminished over time... Who hasn't gazed into the star-studded sky and simply wondered?
David knew very little about the galaxy, and his knowledge of science was limited during his reign, but he knew he was in awe of its creator.
And now I sit here, laptop in front of me, connected to the world by an invisible source, and I remember that old black and white TV that I thought was the most amazing thing I had ever seen, a window to the world; little did I know that in less than 50 years I would be able to watch superior, sharper, glorious technicoloured TV programmes on my phone; we have made the most incredible advances in technology, one could easily think that there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.
David continued with his Psalm:
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.
You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.
Dominion over God's works and all things under our feet.....sounds good, and that was God's intention from the beginning, as we can see in Genesis 1:28, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." … However, something has gone wrong... It went wrong when we moved away from God's mandate and toward our own; it was then that our relationship with God was severed.
The Book of Psalms isn’t the only place we find these words by David. In chapter 2 the writer of Hebrews quotes these same 3 verses from Psalm 8 and it’s this chapter in Hebrews that I want to draw your attention to because it is within this chapter that we see how God has implemented a solution to the problem.
The book of Hebrews was written to encourage Christians during a difficult time, and it focuses on Jesus Christ's absolute supremacy and sufficiency. The writer is recalling David's words, in which David says that God has given man dominion over the works of his hands.
The reality is that despite our advances we do not see this dominion, on the contrary, man is horrifyingly subject to nature .
We can build the most amazing vehicles, computers, televisions, mobile phones, we can produce anti-biotics, vaccines, artificial limbs, all manner of technology to help us live our lives; we can be so proud of our achievements that we try to convince ourselves that we are now in control, that all things are under our control, but we still live under the rule of death, despite our healthcare systems, medicines, research, our inventions, our progress, everyone dies, some as babies others old and well spent, but we all die…the evil and the good.
Psalm 8:4-6 is quoted by the writer of Hebrews because this also concerns him, it concerned him then and it concerns us now, because it is obvious that nothing is under man's control, and it never will be as long as death exists.
Hebrews 2:8b At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
It's only a matter of time before everything we thought we'd mastered is ripped from our grasp and taken away...this is what the writer of Hebrews is worried about at the end of verse 8.
The directive from God from the beginning was that man is to rule creation under God, but we do not see him ruling!
Is there a way to reconcile this disparity? Man is clearly intended to rule, but it is also clear that man does not.
All is not lost, because Hebrews 2:9 brings clarity and a great promise for us, a great destiny awaits us as the rulers and conquerors of creation, and this destiny is part of our salvation.
At the beginning of Hebrews 2, the writer encourages the church to treasure their salvation; secondly, he emphasises the reason why it is so great and valuable; the reason is that in the age to come God has promised to subject the entire creation not to angels but to his redeemed, his saved people.
That hope is part of our salvation—that one day, those who have clung to their salvation will triumph over nature's diseases, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, that they will be revealed as God's sons, and all creation will serve them rather than ravage them as it currently does. Instead of being victims of nature's ravages, diseases, and death, they will triumph over it.
How does this ruling, this triumph over creation come about? How can we see this being accomplished for ourselves? If we don’t see man employing righteous and godly dominion over all things, then what can we see?
V9 tells us what we can currently see:
“But we see Him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honour because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”
In other words, while we do not see Psalm 8 fulfilled in ourselves yet, we do see it fulfilled in Jesus. We are still subject to death, disease, weaknesses, frustrations, and futilities. But Jesus has now passed through weakness and death and is crowned with glory and honour. He is seated in power at the right hand of God and all his enemies are subject to him, they are positioned as a footstool for his feet.
How is this a part of a great salvation for us? How does this ensure our hope of Psalm 8, will we overcome death? will God put creation in subjection to our rule? As difficult as it might be for us to believe that we'll ever truly fulfil God’s directive we need to be encouraged by the final few words of V9: Christ came and suffered and died, "that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone." because of what Christ accomplished in his life, death, resurrection, and his current reign from heaven, Christ will bring to pass God’s original purpose in having created mankind in the first place when he returns to this earth.
In other words, Christ was the first man to be restored to the glorious destiny described in Psalm 8. He was crowned with glory and honour over all creation. But he does not enter his glory alone. Looking at verse 10 we see he "is bringing many sons to glory"—the glory of Psalm 8. Our great salvation is that those who are in Christ Jesus by faith will experience the fulfilment of Psalm 8, the original mandate of God. Jesus is the great forerunner of our salvation. What has happened to him we can be sure will happen to us as well, we are the sons he is bringing to glory! he died for us, and so we can be certain that we will share his rule over creation.
It’s wonderful to look forward to the promises of God but we live in this moment in time, and at this present moment we do not see everything in subjection to man. We see our friends suffering cancer and all manner of diseases, pandemics taking the lives of young and old, we see fires that rip through homes and countryside taking lives and livelihoods. We see governments and leaders directing people into sin, we see the best people we know being treated despicably while the vilest we know of go unscathed.
But we look for answers, we look for healing! We want, we need, we plead for rescue and justice. And sometimes God in his mercy, love, and kindness provides it. But not always. We have not yet had everything put in subjection to us.
The Bible never asks us to act as if things are better than they are. It never asks us to ignore our own or others' pain or to put on a false smile and pretend we aren't discouraged, frustrated, confused, or deeply hurt. Some, on the other hand, have been seduced by another gospel, believing that God expects us to act as if everything is wonderful even when things are dire. They have been taught and then go on to teach others, that unless you always look on the bright side and never say anything negative, you are lacking in faith, and to lack faith is to forfeit the health and wealth that God would otherwise give us.
The Bible does not say that being realistic about our circumstances and suffering is a lack of faith, or that it is wrong to be honest, genuine, and real about what we are going through.
But it does remind us in Hebrews not to overlook this wonderful salvation.
Not to overlook what Christ has purchased for us.
Not to overlook what is to come in the next world.
We are encouraged to be grateful and to endure, to put our trust in the promise of this great future grace—that what you see in Christ today will be yours someday.
Keep your gaze fixed on Christ, not on the pain, futility, frustration, sickness, and death of this age. They will not have the final say. Christ has triumphed over death and all the sin and pain that lead to it. Consider him. Think on him, Pay attention to him.”
Our destiny is written in Psalm 8! All things will be put under our feet in Christ Jesus one day, and we will reign with him in glory forever and ever. Believe it and say it in the face of every adversity and frustration in life. Because it is correct. It is now true because of Jesus.
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