Psalm 8:1 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.

Hebrews 2:5 For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.

6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

7 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:

8 Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

9 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.

I Corinthians 15:24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.

25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

27a For he hath put all things under his feet.

MEMORY VERSE: 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. —Hebrews 2:9

CENTRAL THOUGHT: Although God in the beginning created man to subdue the earth, man, through sin and disobedience, lost that dominion. Christ, however, through submission to God unto death, has been given of God the subjection of this world and that which is to come. In the end He will destroy death and bring us forth with Him unto everlasting life.

WORD DEFINITIONS

Psalm 8:1 “O Lord our Lord”: O Jehovah our sovereign (Hebrew). “Sovereign” means above or superior to all others. This can be applied to our Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, who has been invested with the same power that His Father Jehovah has.

Psalm 8:4 “Mindful”: to mark; to recognize; to remember and think upon. “Visit”: to make a special point or effort to go see and commune with someone.

Psalm 8:5 “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels”: from the Hebrew which says: “You have made him lack a little from God.” The word “angels” here is translated from the Hebrew word “Elohim” which is generally the term for “God.” This was true of man in his first created state: holy, upright, spiritual, intelligent, and invested with dominion over the creation. Man lost this blessed state when he chose to disobey God and was driven from the garden and God’s presence. The writer in Hebrews now applies this to Christ.

Hebrews 2:5 “For unto the angels…”: from the Greek which says, “For not to angels subjected He the habitable world coming, about which we speak.” The writer is pointing to the dominion of the future world as he quotes in the following verses from Psalm 8.

Hebrews 2:6 “Testified”: solemnly and earnestly witnessed (Greek). This testimony is applied by the writer directly unto Christ Jesus, the second Adam, the Redeemer of lost men. What was lost by man in the awful fall into sin is now regained by Christ. But the dominion is to deliver our souls from sin and death to an eternal dwelling with Him in the world to come.

Hebrews 2:8 “We see not yet all things put under him.” Although Christ has conquered death and sin by His death and resurrection from the grave, He has not been given the full dominion, and all things are not yet put under His feet as they will be when He comes the second time without sin unto salvation. The Father has wisely postponed the final victory into the future. In the meantime, He has set Christ at His own right hand to reign over His enemies while they are yet permitted to continue. At the right hand of God, Christ is filling the office of the great High Priest of our salvation, interceding for all in this world who seek after Him. We know, however, that the time is coming when His enemies WILL be subjected and destroyed.

DISCUSSION:

  1. Viewing our lesson, what would you say has been put under Christ?
  2. What was man’s original created state before God?
  3. How and why did man lose this blessed dominion?
  4. What did Jesus do to regain it and redeem fallen mankind?
  5. Why are all things not yet put under Christ, and when will they be?

LESSON BACKGROUND

Today we will view from the Holy Scriptures the prophecy of Christ having all things put under His feet. Because of His humble obedience to the will of the Father to go to the cross and suffer death for the salvation of the world, God highly exalted Him from the grave to His own right hand in the heavenly places. In so doing He put all things under His feet. It is pictured and foretold so wonderfully in this 8th Psalm. The 8th Psalm is primarily speaking of man in his original created state. But the Holy Spirit has inspired the New Testament writer to apply it unto Christ. Both in Hebrews and I Corinthians Christ is pictured as the grand fulfillment of these wonderful prophecies. He has been given dominion of the world to come. This is to be our future eternal abode if we will give all to Him and follow our Lord and Savior all the way.

Oh, how gloriously Christ has conquered! He reigns above at the right hand of God, interceding to the Father on our behalf. His enemies go right on, seemingly unhindered and uninterrupted, but He has control and is holding the reins over everything. Some day the Father will say, “It is enough.” Then Christ will leave His mediatorial throne and descend from the heavens in power and great glory. He will destroy this temporal earth and heavens, raise the dead, and bring all to the judgment. That final victory will see death destroyed and the holy saints who have trusted and followed Him through the ages taken with Him to that blessed world to come. Praise the Lord for the victory we can have in Him!

—Bro. Leslie Busbee

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

When God created man He made him lord of all the earth. He put all things under his control and jurisdiction. He had power over all the animals, the birds, and the creatures who lived in the seas. Most of all he had communion and fellowship with God. He had access to the tree of life, the fruit of which would enable him to live forever. How blessed was man’s condition then! But man was given a will and the power of choice. This reign of power and goodness would only continue if man would choose to obey his Creator; however, man was tempted and he yielded to partake of the forbidden fruit. Thus man lost his dominion of the earth and was reduced to the level of the beast. Death reigned.

Thankfully, God was not willing for this to continue forever. He promised to send a Savior to earth to redeem mankind and restore him to the glory and power he once had. Jesus Christ came to earth on this very mission. He was the second Adam, and He came to pay the ransom price to get us back on our feet again to reign as God originally planned. He came down to take upon Him human flesh and form. He accomplished the will of God completely all the way to the death of the cross. God brought Him up from death and the grave and gave Him all power in heaven and earth. All things were put under His feet. Satan and sin were defeated, making it possible for death and the grave to be destroyed.

So that His plan would be completely implemented, God set Jesus at His own right hand in the heavenly places to reign over His great work with the souls of men. There He intercedes and communicates with us here on earth. This will be until the end when He comes again and raises the dead to life again, thus destroying death, that final enemy. Oh, praise our Heavenly Father for our Lord Jesus Christ, the King of glory!

—Bro. Leslie Busbee

REFLECTIONS

“One we hail as King immortal, He did earth and hell subdue; and bequeathing us His glory, we are kings anointed, too.”

As I pondered over what I might contribute to this lesson, these lyrics by D.S. Warner from the song “Reigning in This Life” rang in my head over and over.

The foot throughout the ages has often been used to delineate victory. Ancient kings would place their feet on the neck of their enemies to signify their supremacy, and the Bible itself refers to this custom. In later years, the foot was used by kings and other nobility to mark lands and territory, eventually leading to the modern imperial unit of “feet” to measure distance.

When Jesus was crucified, I am sure the enemy thought he had won a great victory, but he was mistaken. As God had promised in the Garden, he was only able to bruise the heel of the seed of the woman, but Jesus crushed his head when He stepped on the serpent’s neck! He didn’t stop there, either, for we, His followers, have been bequeathed this victory over the enemy from our great King and Commander. In Revelation 3:21a it reads, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne…” I don’t know about you, but that’s one of the experiences of Heaven to which I am really looking forward. I love reigning here on earth, but to reign with Him for eternity, I don’t think there are enough words to express how wonderful that joy will be!

—Bro. Fari Matthews