We live in the age of “self-esteem.” It seems like you can get away with pretty much anything in our world today, or at least have people mourn your punishment, if you claim you have poor self-esteem. Criminals do the bad things they do, we are told, because they have poor self-esteem. It isn’t just criminals who are the alleged “victims” of poor self-esteem – it is nearly all of us. Books on healthy self-esteem keep rolling off the presses. Mr. Rogers told us that we are all so very special, so special that a generation of students grew up thinking they didn’t have to perform in order to get a passing grade, earn scholarships, or even graduate from college. I recently saw a soap commercial, assuring the viewers that they were conducting programs to convince young girls that they were all beautiful people.

The Bible’s assessment of the human condition is, once again, very different. The Son of God came to earth and took on humanity, not because we are so loveable, but because we are so desperately wicked. If there is any reason to feel good about ourselves, it is because Jesus did something about our fallen condition to restore us to wholeness, to the destiny for which man was originally created.

“For he did not put the world to come, about which we are speaking, under the control of angels. Instead someone testified somewhere: “What is man that you think of him or the son of man that you care for him? You made him lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned him with glory and honor. You put all things under his control.” For when he put all things under his feet he left nothing outside of his control. At present we do not yet see all things under his control, but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he would experience death on behalf of everyone.”  Hebrews 2:5-9

Jesus did not come to put mankind under the rule of angels, but stepped into a position lower than the angels for a little while, so that we might re-acquire the position we were meant to have in the universe. Adam and Eve were created to rule over God’s creation; when they sinned, they lost control of creation, and they died. Our Lord came to the earth in human flesh as the last Adam and lived a sinless life. He endured all the trials and temptations of mankind and prevailed victoriously – without sin. He then died in the sinner’s place, taking our punishment upon Himself. Because He rose from the dead, He defeated sin and death, and He restored fallen man to a glorious future.

All of chapters 1 and 2 are devoted to proving the superiority of the Son to the angels. The Son took on human flesh, so that He might redeem fallen sinners to their original status. Angels cannot take on humanity, as Jesus did. They can appear as though they were men (Genesis 18 and 19), and some would say that they can even produce half-human offspring (Genesis 6). But they cannot become a perfect God-Man, as Jesus did. Neither can angels redeem fallen man from sin, deliver him from the pangs of death, or restore him to his former glory. Angels, whose mission is to serve those who have been saved (Hebrews 1:13), can do nothing to save men’s souls. Only the Son can do this, because of the incarnation.

The incarnation was necessary, so far as our text is concerned, in order for God to cleanse men from sin, and restore our broken relationship with Him. Only a man – a perfect, sinless, divine, man – could die in the sinner’s place. It was therefore necessary for the Second Person of the Trinity to add sinless humanity to His undiminished deity, thereby qualifying him to die in man’s place, bearing the guilt and punishment of his sin. As such, He became the “last Adam,” who provided a reversal for Adam’s sin and its consequences.

Additionally, the incarnation was necessary in order for God to restore fallen man to his former, original dignity and glorious destiny. It is through the work of the perfect man, Jesus Christ, that men can anticipate reigning over all creation. His victory is ours, as His reign will be shared with us. The incarnation and death of the Son not only saves sinners from the guilt and punishment of our sins, it produces the glorious hope of reigning with Him in His kingdom.

Like all creation, we suffer because of the ravages of sin, but God has given us eternal significance through the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 8:23-25; Colossians 1:25-27; Titus 2:11-14; Titus 3:5-7; 1 Peter 1:3-5, 13, 20-21). I think we lose something very important when we think our hope can be diminished by our difficulties. We should realize that we are strengthened by our difficulties because we see how God sustains us in trials, so that our strength and spiritual endurance increase (Romans 5:3-11).  In Hebrews we find assurance that there is a connection between now and the future. We don’t see things as they will be or even as they really are. Unlike the prosperity gospel gurus who preach that trusting Jesus grants an exemption from pain and suffering. The writers of Hebrew would beg to differ. This life may have victory in joy, but it will not be free of tribulation. What we must also constantly keep in mind is that how we live in this age has a direct relationship to what we will experience in the next (Matthew 25:19-23; Luke 16:9-13; Luke 18:29-30).

We should also consider that what will take place in the next age, should impact our conduct in the present age (1 Corinthians 6:1-6). Advising Christians in how to handle legal disputes among their own people, Paul explained that saints are going to judge angels in the age to come; surely we should be capable of judging petty disputes among ourselves in the present age. Our conduct in the future thus dictates our conduct in the present.

What the world doesn’t like about the gospel often boils down to its exclusive claims. God has chosen to save men only through the incarnation of the Son and His substitutionary death on the cross of Calvary. There are those who would tell us (cue the sappy music) that the “gospel of Jesus Christ is but one of many ways that men can reach heaven”. That is not what the author of Hebrews (or any other Biblical author) says. Man’s fallen condition can only be cured by a perfect man. Only the incarnation provided such a man, the God-man, Jesus Christ. If God’s only provision for redeeming sinful men is the person and work of the Son, then how do you think He responds to those who choose some “other way”?

Jesus replied, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6, emphasis mine).  “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12, emphasis mine).

There still remains that whole self-esteem issue. Should Christians be telling people how wonderful they are and that they should love themselves just because they exist? Man was created with greatness and glory, but that was a greatness given to us by God. Man lost that greatness because of disobedience to God (sin). It is not we who are so great, but the Son. Hebrews was not written so that men would think more highly of themselves, but rather that we will think of Him Who is superior to every created being – angels, leaders like Moses and Joshua, and priests like Aaron. Our problem is that we think too highly of ourselves and not think highly enough of Him Who took on humanity and became, for a time, “a little lower than the angels.” It is by seeing Jesus for Who He is that we see ourselves as we really are and as we should be.