Ruling under Christ

 

The OT speaks of humanity being made a little lower than the angels and eventually being crowned with glory and honor and everything being put under their feet. The devotional today interprets this as the future of God’s people and that we will fulfill this prophecy, meaning we will rule the earth. This passage is repeated in Hebrews 2 and while it seems to refer to mankind, this is not how the NT writer interprets it:

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. (Hebrews 2:5–8)

This quote refers back to the psalm that speaks of humanity as a collective individual, but the author of Hebrews applies it to Christ because He represents all of humanity in his life and in death, and makes those lines a reference to His incarnation and exaltation, much like this NT passage:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5–11)

In other words, the one who fulfills the OT prophecy is Jesus. We who are in Christ will reign with Him but He will have all things made subject to Him, including us who belong to Him.

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering . . . Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. (Hebrews 2:9–16)

The destiny of all who believe in Jesus Christ is in Christ. Because of Him, we will be glorified, yet He is always our High Priest and our King. Looking forward to being a ruler in a kingdom could appeal to that sinful desire to be powerful and win everything. Instead, I’m content to look forward to everything being made subject to Jesus, including me!

PRAY: Jesus, I see Your loving hand even now in this chaotic world. You surprise me continually with blessings that did not occur to me to even ask for. As for ruling in Your kingdom, I’m quite delighted at the thought of You ruling all — and have no ambitions for that job!

PONDER: The OT says, “And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’” (Daniel 7:27) This makes it clear that my glory will be established yet it will also be in subjection to and serve the Most High King — Jesus Christ.

 

 

 

A Slavery that Sets Us Free

 

Forty to fifty million people in this world are living in slavery, that is over 1 percent of the population are in slavery to other people. Somewhere around 8-10 percent of the world’s population (perhaps more) are believers in Jesus Christ. The rest are in slavery to sin. One might say a slave is a slave, yet clearly the difference is defined by the taskmaster.

Jesus said so: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34) Paul also wrote, that creation itself will one day be “set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” and that Christians are already “set free from sin and have become slaves of God . . . .”

 Slavery to sin is bondage; slavery to God is freedom. While we talk about having freedom of choice, this only applies to those set free from sin, for as a sinner I had no choice; everything I did was sinful. God says this:

But whoever has doubts (about eating food sacrificed to idols) is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. (Romans 14:23)

If faith is missing, so is a relationship with God and sin is bondage because it ruins my ability to know what is true and good. I’m left to do my own thing and even if it looks okay to me (or others), the “way that seems right leads to death” for the wages of sin is death and eternal separation from God.

Without faith in Christ, all actions are sinful. However, redemption changes everything. God’s gift of salvation includes the gift of faith: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Being free from doing my own thing, there are only two choices: slavery to the will of someone else — which is human bondage OR being in slavery to the will of God — who wants the best for me and knows the best for me because He created me and loves me. The first has no appeal. The second is an amazing gift.

However, faith is needed to do what God says. I need to believe that He is right, good, loves me, and knows what He is talking about. How can I know that is true? Only if He reveals it to me. Redemption is a revealed truth. In contrast, sin blinds and separates me from truth. Sin messes with every faculty I have, no matter how good it may appear. For that reason, sin is an awful taskmaster. It leads me away from God to trusting my own judgment but my own judgment is seriously flawed. Sin can even cause me to see good as evil and evil as good.

The grand truth is this: Jesus delivers sinners. He fills us with the knowledge of His will so we can walk with Him, please Him, bear eternal fruit, increase in knowledge of God, endure in patience with joy, and give thanks to the Father who does all this because “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:9–14).

None of that belongs to sinners. We cannot be godly, and most do not want to be godly. Only Jesus can produce that desire, even in people who assume their slavery is the best way to live. Without faith, this is a lie and a trap. Only faith in Christ equals freedom, not freedom to do as I please, but freedom to choose something and Someone to rule my life other than sin.

Oh Lord, thank You for taking me out of the darkness and sin, out of the lies I kept telling myself in my efforts to make life better. Only You know what is best for me, a truth that You keep affirming and that fills me with delight in You. You rescue me from sin and from myself, from thinking I know what I’m doing by constantly reminding me how helpless and foolish I am without You. What a wonder You are!

STUDY: Romans 6-8, 1 Corinthians 4:1–5, Philippians 2:5–11