Okay Hebrews chapter 2 we're beginning right around verse 8 and 9 right in there Let's bow our heads. I'll pray and we'll get started tonight study father. We do. Thank you so much for your word We thank you for the scripture We ask that your spirit may lead and guide us through it tonight And again ask you to penetrate our hearts that we may be people who will be salt light at this time in this in history For our generation Jesus name we pray Amen. Okay, you've all got notes. I We've gone through chapter 1 of Hebrews, and right there it's talking about the sun. The sun is the emphasis of this, and the sun is being compared to angels. Why angels? Apparently angels are something that's important to the readers of Hebrews, that they've exalted the angels, they've thought a lot about angels, and they've even placed the Christ or Jesus under them or something. So, they're comparing all the way to angels, and we've gone through that. We begin chapter 2, and we focus now on the message given by angels and the message given by the sun, saying, hey, if the sun is superior to angels, then his message is much more superior to the angels' message. And again, the message the angels brought was attributed to them at Mount Sinai, when they were the mediators, apparently, between God and Moses, and they brought the message, according to the writing here. Then we have in chapter 2 verse 5, we studied this last week, after talking about the message, that the Son has a greater message, is now the earth. that the angels, and we talked a little bit about this last week, we could go further with that, but the angels are in a mode of governing this earth. Again, just like there are mediators between God and Moses and presented him with the Ten Commandments and the law according to several verses in different places, they're also the mediator between God's will and the activity on the earth. You even see in Revelation, they're doing a lot of activities, causing different things to take place. So the angels are still bringing messages in the Old Testament, and during this age, even now, they're still in charge of different things in the world order. But in the age to come, or the world to come, chapter 2, verse 5, it is not to angels that he subjected the world to come about which we are speaking. But it's going to be to the Son. The age to come is going to be given to the Son to administrate. He will be on the earth. Angels won't be the ones doing the administrating and making sure things take place. The Son Himself will be present. And of course, we can add to this, this is where we will be ruling as kings under Him. We will be ruling with Him. That's why Paul says in Corinthians, do you not realize that we will judge the angels? Or that we will be the rulers in the age to come. We will be the rulers along with the Son, not the angels. Then we go off in verse... Verse 6, but there is a place where someone has testified, and then he reads an Old Testament verse out of Psalm. It says, What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels, you crowned him with glory and honor, and put everything under his feet. In context, this is talking about Adam. This is kind of what we were talking about last week towards the end, is this verse is talking about Adam in his original state. God created Adam, placed him on the earth, created him a little lower than the angels, It was God, angels, and then Adam, or man, was placed here. He was placed a little lower than the angels, but crowned with glory and honor. He was given rulership of the earth, and it was a great, great situation there in Genesis chapter 2, before chapter 3 opened up. You crowned him, that's Adam or mankind, with glory and honor, and put everything under his feet. And again, when you read what's in that verse, Psalm chapter 8, when you read what's in that chapter, they're talking about the stars, the whole universe. Adam was the ruler of God's creation. Now, Adam fell, he bowed his knee to an angel, Satan, and angelic Order or rule came over the planet, or however we want to consider that. And Adam, we call it the fall of man. Adam lost his place. Now, as we read this, and one thing we've got to keep in mind, what's taking place in these verses is that Jesus Christ is going to become a man. Now, watch. Jesus' name has not been mentioned yet in this book. He hasn't mentioned Jesus. That's not going to come up until we get to verse 9. It says, "...in putting everything under him," or man, God left nothing that is not subject to him. Everything is subject to man, but you don't see it because you've fallen. You see the world that Adam left to you. You fell in Adam. Everything has been given to you. That's how God made the earth. But you've fallen in Adam, and so all you see is the result of Adam's fall. Like we said last week, mankind is more often the victim than the victor in earth. That's because of the fall of man. Because of where we're at. So, we don't see everything, but Yet at the present, we do not see everything subject to him, but verse 9, but we see Jesus. Now this is the first mention of Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels. In other words, now what happens here is now we read Psalm 8 again. We cross off Adam and we put in here Jesus, which Paul calls the second Adam. But we see Jesus. We live in Adam's world. We're part of that fallen condition. So we don't see everything that's subject to man because we've lost it. But it's still our potential, it's still something God has planned for us in the age to come when the sun is going to rule and reign. But how are we going to get there? He's going to make a second Adam. Now we're going to read Psalm 8, now again, but this time we're thinking about Jesus. We don't see everything that's subject to man, but we do see Jesus in the beginning of His reign, including where we're going to head tonight, the conquering of death. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. So now when we go back, we're going back to that quote out of Psalm 8, what is manful that you are mindful of him. Now as we read this whole thing, it's not Adam's position we're talking about, although that was the original context. Jesus has now replaced Adam. And now we read this, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the angels. And another way of reading that in the Greek, we mentioned that last week. You made him a little lower than the angels. That also could be translated correctly. You made him for a little while lower than the angels. And that's what Jesus... You made the second Adam, Jesus, for a while a little lower than the angels. Why? So he could do the work of destroying what happened to us in Adam's fall and get us back or actually in a better place than we were in Adam. You made Him a little lower than the angels for a little while. You crowned Him with glory and honor, Jesus Christ on His resurrection and ascension, and put everything under His feet. And so currently, what is man's potential can't be seen, cannot be found, only in Christ are we going to see this. And Jesus Christ is not here yet. He's been crowned with glory and honor. That age has begun. The new age has begun because the king has been inaugurated. He's ascended. He's been seated on the throne. He's been given glory and honor. We are now waiting for his arrival to the earth of where he will take over the government. And that's the whole narrative of eschatology. And when he comes back and sets up his kingdom, that's where we will rule and reign with him because we are his brothers. And that's where these verses are heading. verse 9, but we see Jesus who was made a little lower for a little while than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. One of the problems that we would have here with these readers potentially is as we go through this, the sun is greater than the angels all the way through chapter 1. He's got a greater message. He's going to rule the coming earth. But wait, there's this issue right here. This is a huge issue even in today's world. is the issue of suffering. This was one of the problems with Christ being recognized as the Messiah, because the Jews didn't have the concept of the suffering Messiah. They had the concept of the victorious Messiah. But one of the principles that is found throughout Scripture, throughout the Gospels, one of the themes of this book of Hebrews, and one of the things, no matter how you slice or dice it, one of the foundational elements of Christianity is suffering. Suffering is part of this world. If you're suffering just because you're living in the human race, because you're living in flesh and blood here. If you're suffering because you're living in a fallen world that's been cursed by God, waiting for the curse to be removed, because Satan is here also. Or if you're suffering because you're actually attaining God's will, and the examples are numerous in Scripture, from Job to Paul to anyone who was following. How about Moses? Moses had a great life. What a great life. ruler of Egypt, 40 years watching the sheep, and then 40 years, guess what? Ruling Israel. That's exactly what he had wanted to do when he grew up, was rule Israel in the wilderness for 40 years with them griping and groaning the whole way through, and people dying because God's striking with plagues. Don't you want to be a leader of a people? You think Bush's poll numbers are low? Moses were way lower. It's like they picked up, they wanted to run into stone him several times. They didn't like Moses. So, you know, even the great heroes of faith, well, they were a hero of faith. Now they're a hero of faith. Back then, they were not heroes of faith. Just about anyone you can find in scriptures is someone who was suffering in God's plan. Because suffering always comes before the crown. The son receives the crown and the glory, but his way there was through suffering. And suffering is simply, if you want to define it in a more positive way, following God's will. That's another way of saying suffering. I'm going to follow God. And this is so important because that is part of the Christian life. And the Son found this same thing here. It says, but we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor. Why? Even the NIV picks this up clearly. Why was He crowned with glory and honor? Because He suffered death. The reason the Christ, because Jesus accomplishes His goal, His will of suffering, He receives glory and honor. And it goes on, because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. Just a couple things about this. Notice it says, in little pot shots at doctrines here, taste death for everyone. There's no room for the limited atonement there, if you're familiar with that little doctrine. He died for everyone, not just the elect. He died for everyone, depending on how you want to use that. I just threw that out there. Also, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death. Taste is a word that doesn't mean sampled. It doesn't mean, hmm, I just want to try this a little bit. I want to be able to say, oh yeah, I was there. I did the same thing once. Taste is a metaphor. It's a phrase. It's used throughout the Greek language to mean the full experience. He tasted. He went through the whole thing. tasted it for everyone. And what's neat about this, this leads into this next part of the verse, is that, well let's read the next verse, verse 10. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, that's reference to God the Father, for whom and through everything exists, that's a little definition there of God, for whom and through everything exists. Now realize in Colossians, that same description is used of Jesus Christ who created all things for himself. But this is a reference to God in bringing many sons to glory. Now that's an interesting use of the word sons right there because all the way through this book so far we've been talking about the Son. The Son is greater. Now all of a sudden we've got many sons. Bringing many sons to glory. So you can hear where this is heading. Jesus suffered and so He received glory and honor because He suffered. But now that suffering is the process of bringing many sons to that same glory. So what he is finding, the suffering that Jesus had to endure, which could have been a stumbling block for the readers of Hebrews, because he's got a greater message, he's going to have a greater kingdom, but now the greater one is like, wait, wait, wait, wait. He suffered. I mean, the man suffered. The man was killed. How can you, if he's greater than angels, don't suffer? Angels don't die on crosses. They have a pretty good life, you know. But the sun is greater, but yet he suffered. The suffering was, we're going to read this verse, to get man, here's mankind, mankind has fallen, he's in this state, he's lost, he's down, and he's covered in death, he's covered in sin, he's covered in darkness, and there's no way out. If you want to say it this way, he's going to have to pay, but there's no way he can pay for his sin, there's no way he can redeem himself. But to get him out, someone is going to have to go through the suffering. Am I spelling suffering right? It doesn't look right all of a sudden. It looks like surfing or something. Man is going to have to get out of this place right here. And Jesus, we're going to read right here, is going to be the trailblazer. He is not suffering because he's weak. He's not suffering because he's lower than the angels. He's suffering because he is trying to get man out of his predicament. And the only way man is going to get out of his predicament is through the trail, the avenue, the road. through the way of suffering. And so Jesus is going to have to pass through this suffering and on the other side of suffering is going to be the glory and the honor. And two things are going to happen here. It's not only is he going to make the way for Jesus, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. He's going to come to become a man. The reason he became a man was to blaze a trail through this suffering that we might be released from. That we may be, well, we're going to hit the Corinthians 15. Where, oh death, is your victory? Where, oh death, is your sting? Thanks be to Christ. It's through Jesus Christ that this suffering was eliminated in the extreme sense. Not only is man going to have his way blazed through the suffering by Jesus Christ, man is going to see the result of two things. The result of suffering and the result of death. For the Christian, what is the result? What happens after suffering and death? Well, follow the trailblazer, follow the pioneer, follow Jesus. When he went through suffering and death, what happened? glory and honor. Yeah, resurrection, glory and honor. And just like suffering is a Christian principle that you really don't want to get away from because that's the part of the life, is when you go through the suffering, there's always going to be glory and honor on the other side. So let's read this, what this verse is saying here. That he might taste death for everyone, that he might experience this for everyone, otherwise we'd not be able to find our way through this. So in verse 10, in bringing many sons to glory, It was fitting that God, that's the Father, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. I want you to notice this right here, where it says author. I've got that written down somewhere on the notes, probably page two. Yeah, middle page two. There's a little bit of Greek right there. Translated in the middle of that page, the leader who delivers them, or the NIV says, the author of their salvation. In the Greek, it simply says the leader who delivers them. The word leader or in the NIV author is the word archeagos, and it means the originator, the leader, or the pioneer. So it says it was fitting Let me read this, "...and bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering." Meaning, again, here's a word, perfect, teleos. Perfect means complete. Not so much in the sense of perfect without flaw. The idea here is complete. It's reached its end. It's fulfilled. Now, Jesus Christ, the Son, in the original sense, has always been perfect. So you can't take the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word is with God, and improve perfection. He is perfect. So this Word is not talking about making the Son perfect. This is not talking about the Son of God having some kind of sin nature, or having humanity had to perfect His humanity. He's perfect. He was a perfect man. He walked perfect. He was perfect God. He's a perfect man. This is not about perfecting Jesus Christ in His humanity or in His deity or anything. This is talking about completing His mission. Let's go back and look at that again now. So it says this, it was fitting that God for whom and through everything exists should make the author, the pioneer, the one who's going to blaze the trail of their salvation complete. It's fitting that God is going to complete the trailblazer's mission through suffering. I mean, it's fitting, it's obvious. The only way we can get out of this is if someone comes here for us, with us, and then completes his mission, perfects his mission by blazing a trail through suffering. That's the only way it could happen. There's only one way someone can come deliver us, is he's got to unite with us, he's got to face the suffering, the disaster, the darkness, the hopelessness that we're facing, blaze a trail through it, and perfect it. This perfection is not Jesus being perfected, it's the idea of completing his mission. And once he's done it, and God the Father has completed and perfected the Pioneer's mission, We're on the way. We're on the way. And so that is answering a question. As we look at that, that is answering a question of how could the Son, who's got a greater message, who's going to rule the earth and a greater kingdom, why would the Son suffer? Well, He came not for His own glory, because He had glory. He left the glory to be united with man, made a little Lord for a little while, then angels. How come? Because He's the pioneer. He came for us. The reason the Son, the greater One, even showed up was so that He could blaze a trail that Adam fell into. He could blaze a trail out of this and take Himself to glory and honor. But He's just taking Himself back to where He was. But He's going to bring a trail so that we could follow Him into His glory and His honor. So let's continue now. Verse 10 again, "...in bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God the Father, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the author or the pioneer of their salvation or the pioneer of their deliverance perfect or complete his mission through the process of suffering. Now, verse 11. Oh, I wanted to go here real quick. Just because I had it written down in my notes, I went right past it. Let's go to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. Towards the end of that chapter, we can look in verse Chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians is the resurrection chapter. The Corinthians were having a hard time dealing with the concept of the resurrected body, and Paul came in there in chapter 15 and says that's basic. You are going to be resurrected physically and have a physical body in a perfect state. But he says in verse 53 of chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true. Death has been swallowed up in victory." Then here's a quote out of Isaiah. Excuse me, Hosea, verse 55. Where, O death, is your victory? Almost a taunting song, a taunting verse. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? We heard you had the victory. It was a painful death. Where is that? The sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself full to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." It is going to end up in resurrection, the same thing. And so, just like Jesus has gone from the point of being a man through suffering and glory and honor, a trailblazer, we now know by faith. This is another thing. I think I skipped this. Is this coming up later? Oh yeah, go back to page 1. I want to point this out too. Throughout Hebrews, there is the concept of the things that we see and the things that are not seen. You can right away, when I say things that are not seen, what verse pops in your head? Hebrews 11, verse 1. By faith, I'm going to read that real quick. Hebrews 11, verse 1. Now, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Faith is being certain of what we do not see. Faith gets us here so that we can be certain of what we do not see. You can never see this. You can never measure this. You can never know this for sure. But remember we just read in Hebrews chapter 2 there, but we see Jesus. We do not see, watch, here it is again. We do not see everything subject to man. It's out here. It's not available for us to even understand or perceive or comprehend. We can't see this, but watch this. What we do not see, but we, but it says, but we see Jesus. Now, again, we could say, well, I've never seen Jesus. Well, yes, we have. Mankind saw Jesus. Mankind recorded it in the Gospels. He physically came to the earth. It talks about the Word became flesh. The unseeable became flesh. So, yes, we've seen Jesus. And you can doubt the Scriptures and cause your own problems there if you want to. But we have seen Jesus. And so the writer of Hebrews says, But we have seen Jesus. What is out here, we don't know. But we have seen Jesus. But notice this right here. The faith. Hebrews 11. I'm going to look at that again. I'm going to turn back there again. Faith is being sure of what we hope for, certain of what we do not see. Here it is. Now, faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Faith explains to us what is out here. Now watch how this works. We can only understand heaven by faith. We've never been there. We can't measure. We can't see it. But again, like when we talk about apologetics, we don't want just blind faith. Neither do the writers of Scripture. Neither does God. He doesn't expect us to just believe in God. Well, I better. Yeah, I believe in God. Do you believe in Jesus? Well, I don't know. I believe in Jesus. It's like there are certain things that God has revealed to us, things that are seen. I got this written down here. I wrote down, also notice throughout the book the concept of seeing and not seeing. In this verse, in verse 8, we can see that man, in this verse we can see the man, the actual historical events. So for in this case, we can see Jesus, we can see his works, We can see history that followed him. We can see his words. All these things are measurable. Oh, here's a good one. We see his death. This is the point of these verses. We see his death, but we also see then the resurrection, the glory, and the honor. So, what happens out here, we don't know. None of us have been there and come back and told people about it. All we can see is Jesus. And what we saw in Jesus, besides His works, His words, the history that happened around Him, is we see Him die, we see Him suffer, and it's recorded that He went to glory and honor. And so with that, we now have faith. I have faith that upon my death, or upon my suffering, the ultimate, what's up here? What's unseen? I don't know what's out there. Yes, I do. I do know what's out there because I see Jesus. I can see this. This is not blind faith. This faith is based on evidence. Evidence that we see God revealing Himself throughout the Scriptures, throughout history. We see Him revealing Himself in Jesus. So there are certain things we know. If you were a Christian because you had to pick a side, And I'm just hoping, yeah, I'd rather believe in God than not believe in God. Because if you don't believe in God and there is a God, you're in trouble. But if you believe in God and there is no God, it really didn't matter. So I'll go ahead and believe in God. If that's your justification, you would be what we consider a weak faith. Because you've got nothing holding you together. You have no proof of your faith. Even in Scripture, there are certain things, right here we just read, certain things that we do see. We saw Jesus. We have the Scriptures. These are certain things, and we could go on and on through different examples throughout, just, you know, philosophy, science, you know, all the proofs of the existence of God. We know certain things, and based on that evidence, we now trust Jesus' words, we trust the scriptures, we trust the things revealed through the apostles and the prophets, and so now I know what's out here. And a classic one, again, is Jesus' death, resurrection, and honor and glory. What happens outside of here? I know. based on faith, I know, the evidence of things not seen, things hoped for, is things we do not see are understood by the things that have been revealed. Does that make sense at all? That is within the authors, he mentioned that several times. The seen things, let me write it this way, the things that are seen become the basis for our faith, but this becomes the evidence of the things that are not seen. You have certain things that you know you can see and measure. That proves your faith. That becomes the basis. And this now projects you out here. You can understand what is not seen that has been revealed through Scripture. And the author of Hebrews is writing in that way. Now, let's go back to Hebrews 2. In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Verse 11, both the one who makes men holy, who's the one who makes men holy? That's Jesus, the priest who is also the sacrifice. And those who are made holy, who are those who are made holy? You and me, are of the same family, the Greek says, are one. So both Jesus, the one who is making holy, and us, who have been made holy are the same one. Not the same person, but the same family. It's the same group. We are the same. This is important. Because Jesus became us so that we could follow Him in glory. Now, this is a huge statement. This is a huge statement. Because Jesus now, or the deity, the God, is not just someone out there. The deity is someone who is joined with us. We are of the same family. That should have some kind of benefit. That should have some kind of repercussion in our lives, at least in the future. Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So, Jesus, the point, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. So now you've got the Son, who is greater than age... See, we're still on that. We're still, if we're reading this quicker, we're still talking about how great the Son is. He's got a greater message. He's going to have a greater kingdom. Now He suffered and died, but the reason He suffered and died was for the sons that would follow Him in glory. And He is not ashamed. This Son, whose name has just been revealed to us in this chapter, is Jesus, is not ashamed of us. In fact, He calls us, the Son calls us, brothers. We are united with Him. We're not servants. We're not just acquaintances. We are brothers. We are of the same family. And now, the author spins off to prove this. He's going to spin off into three verses. Three Old Testament verses are going to come up here. And this is where we'll spend the remainder of the night, which may not be very long, but we're on page 3. And there are three Old Testament quotes. I'll read them first here in the NIV in Hebrews. Hebrews 3, verse 12. He says, I will declare your name to my brothers in the presence of the congregation. I will sing your praise. I do want you to notice verse 12 begins by saying, he says, and it says right before that, Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. He says, and then he quotes Psalm 22. And we're going to spend a little bit of time looking at Psalm 22. And in Psalm 22, in the second half of that psalm, some of you are familiar with Psalm 22, Psalm 22 begins, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And the first half is all about the cross. In fact, the early church Recognize that Psalm 22 as a testimony that Jesus was the suffering Messiah, that Jesus was the one. Because look, the details of the cross follow Psalm 22, and you can't be claiming self-fulfilled prophecy, because while a self-fulfilled prophecy would be occurring, the one who's being fulfilled around Jesus is nailed to a cross. He can't do much. But yet, all around him, Psalm 22 is unraveling all around the one pinned on the cross. At the halfway point, it switches into verses like this. And now we're talking about the Messiah in His glory and His honor. And we have a verse like this. I will declare Your name, God the Father, to my brothers in the presence of the congregation. Now, see that word congregation? This is a quote out of, guess what, translation of the Old Testament. Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. In the presence of the congregation, the Hebrew word there in the Greek Septuagint is translated with the word Ecclesia, which is the word that's translated throughout the New Testament. Does anybody know this? Ecclesia is church. And so if you read this in the Subtuagent, or if you'd read this in the way they would write it, I would declare your name to my brothers in the presence of the church or the assembly. I will sing your praises." We'll come back and look at that in just a minute. Verse 13, and again, now the second, now these seem to be just like thrown out there random. It's like, what's this mean? And again, I will put my trust in him. And again he says, here am I and the children God has given me. Now all three of those verses Or they're put together so tight with no explanation between them, just, I'll declare your name to my brothers, and again I'll put my trust in him, and again he says, here am I and the children God has given me. It's like, in the author's mind, these things are all in agreement and they're all saying the same thing, with the same thought pointing somewhere. Let's see if we can tie those together and make some sense out of it. So, let's go back to Psalm 22. Psalm 22, and there's a couple things. This first one, Psalm 22 is something written by David. The next two are going to be back-to-back verses in Isaiah. Some things are going to be consistent in here. One of the things that is going to be consistent in here is the fact that God is going to have turned His back, turned away from His people. Another one is the idea of going ahead and trusting in God, trusting in the midst of suffering or disappointment or disillusionment. And both Isaiah and the author of Psalm 22, in their historical setting, were in a position where it's like, well, look at Psalm 22, verse 1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Okay? I mean, clearly this person, again, I have no trouble, and you need to think how you want to view scripture, I have no trouble believing that David was in some situation in his life where he looked up into the sky and says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And then this is talking about something that was happening in his life, but yet towards the end he's got some hope and he says, yet I'm going to trust in God and keep going. I believe that there's probably that's possible. In fact, I know Isaiah is, when we read Isaiah. There's something happening in Isaiah's life at the time. But yet, clearly through these words is that prophetic element projecting through the centuries into the day of the Messiah. So it has both an actual occurrence in David's life and yet a prophetic fulfillment. But the point here being, Both these verses, Isaiah and Psalm 22, are talking about a person, if it be David and Isaiah, or if it be the Christ, the Messiah, who is trusting God or being told to trust God in the midst of a problem. In Psalm 22, he's being told to trust God in a mocking way. Let's read it. Psalm 22, verse 1, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me? So far from the words of my groaning. The Hebrew word is screaming. Oh my God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer by night, and I am not silent. Yet You are enthroned as the Holy One. You are the praise of Israel. In You our fathers put their trust. They trusted and You delivered them. They cried to You and were saved. In You they trusted and were not disappointed. I believe, just again, this is something you've got to consider, I believe that Jesus was quoting this at least to himself on the cross. We hear at noon, Jesus cry out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me in the Gospels? Then if you look at verse 31 of Psalm 22, This is the last thing that Jesus says at three o'clock in the afternoon, three hours later. So it might have taken him three hours to recite this. I don't know. But it's interesting. Verse 31, it says there, they will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, for he has done it. And in the Hebrew, it could be translated, for it is finished. So at noon, Jesus says, clearly, the Bible says, Jesus says at noon, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And at 3 o'clock that same afternoon, the Bible says, Jesus says, it is finished. It just so happens that he quotes the first verse at 12 o'clock, the last verse at 3 o'clock, and everything that takes place between those verses, or many of the things that are taking place between those verses are events that are surrounding him while he's there. So in my mind, I have no trouble that Jesus at least is conscious of this chapter while he's on the cross. But nonetheless, the writer of Psalms and Jesus then would be saying something to the effect of, Looking back in history, a reason for why do you trust in God? Because my forefathers trusted. They put their trust in Him and He delivered them. I have reason to believe God will deliver me. Why? Because my forefathers trusted Him and He delivered them. That is what is seen. I've seen that. What about the unseen? I have faith in the unseen because I've seen something. I've seen God do something. And that's why God came and delivered Israel. One of the reasons. He brought them to the Red Sea. How come? To demonstrate historically, look, I am delivering you. Don't forget. Now, throughout time, we can even go back and say, look at God deliver His people. We go back to the Gospel. Look at God raise His Son from the dead. What's going to happen to you? Based on what I've seen, God is going to deliver me. I don't see Him delivering me. That's the unseen. But based on my faith, which is based on the seen, I will. Well, anyway, the writer of Hebrews or writer of Psalms are saying the same thing. I'm remembering what happened. Verse 6, But I, in my present condition, am a worm and not a man. scorned by men and despised by people. All who see me mock me. They hurl insults, shaking their heads. He trusts in the Lord." And that's mockingly. There it is. They told Jesus, saying, He trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord deliver Him. They're going to say the same thing to Isaiah. They're walking away saying, Isaiah, you're wrong. And they walk away from Him. Let the Lord deliver Him. He trusts in the Lord. Let the Lord rescue Him. Let Him deliver Him since He delights in Him. Yet, you brought me out. Now, he goes back and recounts in his own life situations. Yet, you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust in you, even at my mother's breast. You go back to Jesus' childhood, being chased by Herod. You know, here's a baby already trying to be killed. It's like, oh man, from my mother's womb, they're trying to kill me. From birth I was cast upon you from my mother's womb. You have been my God. Do not be far from me, for trouble is near, and there is no one to help. Many bulls surround me. Strong bulls of Bashan encircle me." This would probably apply to David's time, but clearly we're talking now about having been encircled by the Romans and the Pharisees and those. "...Roaring lions tearing their prey." Tore his back. "...Opened their mouths wide against me." Verse 14, "...I am poured out like water." Indeed, he was cut open and his, you know, water came. And all my bones are out of joint. There is a good picture of hanging on the cross, being stretched out. My heart is turned to wax. It is melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd. And my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Remember I'm saying, I'm thirsty. You lay me in the dust of death. That's where God left him. God laid his son in the dust of death. There he is. That's my son. Dogs have surrounded me, that's a phrase for Gentiles. A band of evil men have encircled me. And if you're still wondering, look at this one. They've pierced my hands and my feet. Again, this is about 800 years, 900 years ahead of or before the Romans began the practice of crucifixion. I can count all my bones. People stare and gloat over me. Watch this one. They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. Is there any wonder the early church didn't run back to these verses and say, We see the crucifixion here. I mean, the early church was reading this saying, this is the crucifixion. But you, O Lord, be not far off. O my strength, come quickly to help me. Deliver my life from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. Rescue me from the mouth of the lion. Save me from the horns of the wild oxen. Now, verse 22. That would be the crucifixion and the end of the crucifixion, the death. He's laid in dust. Now, this is not the end, I believe. The writer of Hebrews feels the same way. Because the writer of Hebrews, after saying, Jesus is not ashamed to call us his brothers, then says, he says, and quotes this verse. This verse is going to come after the resurrection. This would be something that would attain to or apply to Jesus upon his resurrection and ascension. It says, I will declare your name to my brothers, and who are the brothers in Hebrews? Us who are following in glory, the one he united with. in the congregation, Ecclesia, in the Septuagint, I will praise you. So he says, I will proclaim your name, God the Father's name, to my brothers, to the believers, and in the midst of my church, or the church, the assembly of these believers, I will sing praises. I will praise you. You who fear the Lord, praise Him. All you descendants of Jacob, honor Him. Revere Him, all you descendants of Israel. Possibly some lines from the song he's going to sing. For he has not despised or disdained the suffering of the afflicted one. He has not hidden his face from him, but has listened to his cry for help. From you come the theme of my praise in the great assembly. Before those who fear you, I will fulfill my vows. The poor will..." Now here's what's going to take place. Fulfill what vows? Fulfill the vows that I promised I was going to take care of. through the suffering on the cross. The poor will eat and be satisfied. They who seek the Lord will praise Him. May your hearts live forever. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord." And we are the ends of the earth, both geographically, we're on the other side of the planet, and historically, we're 2,000 years down the line. And all the families of the nations, isn't that an interesting Jewish verse? That sounds like a church age verse. The nations are going to hear this. That was the message of the Israelites to go to the nations with it. And all the families of the nations will bow down before Him. For dominion belongs to the Lord. That's capital all the way through. So that's Yahweh. Dominion belongs to Yahweh and He rules over the nations. Now we're right back where we started from with the idea that the Son is going to have a kingdom reign. And He rules over the nations. Again, remember how we started the night? We talked about church and state. Jesus Christ controls history. Jesus Christ is overseeing time and all the nations, but the nations today are being controlled by men. Clearly by men. Even Paul addressed that in Romans. So this verse, for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations. In a sense, yes, today, because He controls everything, because He's God, but actually, men are in control today, but there's a day coming where Jesus Christ will arrive on this planet and He will have a hands-on dominion over the nations, different than it is now. Then we will have a theocracy. Jesus Christ will rule and reign, unless you want to call it a dictatorship, because that's what it will be. Verse 29, all the rich of the earth will feast and worship, Notice that all the rich of the earth, that's the believers, will feast and worship. All who go down to the dust will kneel before Him. All who die will kneel before Him. Those who cannot keep themselves alive, those who have to face death and suffering by themselves, they can't ever have a hope of keeping themselves alive. They will bow down before Him. And they, the rich, will eat and feast on the earth. Those who cannot keep themselves alive, posterity will serve Him. Future generations will be told about the Lord. Now, that's a different word. Notice that's capital L, small o-r-d. Will be told about Adonai. They will proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn. And that's what's even taking place now, because we were the people yet unborn. For he has done it, it is finished. And that is the whole account right there. The thing we're looking at right here, again, I'm sorry to go through that whole thing, but that's a great chapter, is right in the middle of that, I will declare your name to my brothers in the congregation, I will praise you. The writer of Hebrews was going back to this familiar verse in the early church and saying, look right here, the son calls you his brothers. So what he's saying is, what I'm telling you is not unique. He says this is exactly what God wants. And then he quotes again from Isaiah. Now we go to Isaiah 8. In Isaiah 8, this is early on in the book. We went through Isaiah a little while ago, all the way through it. But in chapter 8, we're going to begin looking in verse 11. What takes place in chapter 8 here, again, there's one verse we're aiming for right here. The first verse that we looked at was A verse about brothers and proclaiming to the brothers in the congregation, the assembling. But here's another verse that it is focused on. Let's go ahead and read chapter eight, looking at verse 17. Are you ready? I'm going to read this. I'm going to go back a few verses. I will wait for the Lord. That's part of the theme of this verse. I will wait for just like we saw David in Psalm 22, the application of the Lord. I will wait for the Lord. I'm going to be laid in the dust. I'm going to wait. I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. Similar to Psalm 22 verse 1. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Here in this case, he's hiding his face from Jacob. There's no reason to believe. I don't see anything out here in the future. But I've got evidence. I'm going to wait. Even though God's hiding his face. I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him. And this is the next verse right here. In Him. In the midst of difficulties, I'm going to put my trust in Him. And this would be in Hebrews, that we just read, that would be Jesus that would say, I'm going to put my trust in Him to achieve this. Let's go back and look at the context of this. The context of this, chapter 8, beginning in verse 11, is Isaiah's... We've got all of Isaiah's message, still chapters that are coming here yet. But Isaiah's basically presented his message to the nation. And the nation goes, hmm, not interested. They've rejected him. They've already got their way. They're already on the fast track going this way. Isaiah says, stop, you're going the wrong way. Here's the message. Look, God sent me with a message. They go, well, and they universally rejected him. Now, there is going to be a remnant. That even is going to be addressed here. They're going to be addressed as inherent possibly as disciples. They may be seen as family and maybe a direct family, but maybe family in the sense of referring to this group. Isaiah is going to have a group of believers that are going to say, we understand what you're saying. We got to do something. There's going to be a group with him, but the whole nation is going to reject him. And Isaiah is going to say, well, let's look at this. So Isaiah has been rejected basically. He's been called to make a presentation to the nation and they've said no. Chapter 8, verse 11, the Lord spoke to me, to Isaiah, with his strong hand upon me, meaning the Spirit of God came upon him, warning me not to follow the way of this people. Don't follow the way of this culture. I know they're going this way. They've rejected the message. Don't let it stop you. Don't go their way. Verse 12, do not call conspiracy everything these people call conspiracy. In other words, their culture's starting to decline, starting to fall apart, everybody's against everybody. Okay, sum this up. Don't call a conspiracy everything they call a conspiracy. Don't get caught up in the political game. That's part of the confusion of a fallen nation or a culture that's declining. It's like, oh, everybody's coming at it against everybody else. Let it go. Don't get caught up in that. Do not fear what they fear. And do not dread it. The Lord Almighty, the One, is the One you are to regard as holy. Instead of fearing God's judgment, or instead of fearing God's confusion that's coming on the nation, fear God. Because the judgment's coming. The confusion's going to continue. Isaiah, keep your eye on Me. Keep your eye on the Lord Almighty, he says. He is the One you are to fear. He is the One you are to regard as holy. He is the One you are to dread. Verse 14, And He will be a sanctuary But for the house of Israel, he will be a stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall. Now, you know, Peter addresses this. Jesus used this, too. Stone, rock. This is this person. This is the Lord. This is Jesus. This is the Son of God. This is the Son. For Isaiah, Isaiah is told, do not call conspiracy what they call Isaiah, do not call conspiracy what they can call conspiracy. Don't get caught up in their political games. You stay focused on Me. And if you'll stay focused on Me, the rock, the rock will be your sanctuary. But for them, no sanctuary. That same rock for Israel is going to be a stone that makes them stumble, a rock that makes them fall. It's the same person. For Isaiah, it's a sanctuary. For them, it's their source of destruction. And for the people of Jerusalem, He will be a trap and a snare. He's going to set a snare, the rock is going to show up, and it's going to spring on Israel, or on Jerusalem. They think it's coming on Him, but it's going to spring back on them. Many of them will stumble, they will fall and be broken, they'll be snared and captured. Both in Isaiah, in 586, with the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy, but also 70 AD and throughout time. So here's what God says. This is what's going to happen. This is typical of God. You're not going to listen. If you're not going to listen, I'm not going to talk. You understand that? That's the way it is. I can show you other verses. God says, I'll send a famine on the land. This is something to think about right here. This is something to think about. Just keep this in your minds. I'll send a famine on the land. This is not a food of the Word of God. God says, I will send you famine. I will send a famine to your land where the word of God will be so rare, you're starving spiritually. You have no way of finding a way out. Why? Because I'm judging you. One of the signs of judgment, no Bible teaching. Why? Because I'm judging these people. I don't want to find their way out. You can see that in Samuel. In Samuel, when Samuel was a little boy, it says, The word of the Lord was rare. There weren't many visions. And then you've got Hophni and Phineas and Eli the priest all doing all their problems there in the tabernacle. It's like, why? God says, no, I'm not going to send it to you. Now watch right here. Here's Isaiah trying to communicate to his nation. They won't listen. God says, keep your eye on the ball. I'll be your sanctuary, but I'm going to be a rock that makes them stumble. So here's what I want you to do with your message. Do this with your message. Ready? Verse 16. Bind up the testimony. and seal it up and seal up the law among my disciples." Take that message they've rejected and bring it over to my disciples. Bring it to the remnant. Have them seal it up. Don't even read it. Put it on the shelf. Why? Because we're going to wait. Because they know they should have listened. We're going to wait. And in another 100 years, 200, 300 years, bring that thing out and say, look, told you so. So that generation is going to reject it. Seal it up. I told them. Seal it up. And then we'll bring it. Guess where it's at? It's right here. This is the testimony. It was sealed up at that time. Forget it. They're not going to listen. Just seal it up. We'll save it. And then we'll read about what I told them was going to happen. And when it does happen, they'll know you should have listened. And it'll be a warning to the next generation. Bind up the testimony and seal up the law among my disciples. I will wait for the Lord. Who is hideous? Now Isaiah's response. I will wait for the Lord. How disappointing is that? To have in your hand the answer. Here's the answer. This is what God says we need. Are you ready? They go, no, we're not. We don't want that. It's like, what do I do now? They won't even listen. He says, seal it up with the remnant. Keep them right here. That's his mission. What am I going to do now? Isaiah says, I will wait for the Lord. I'll wait for the Lord to fulfill these words and then you'll know I was right. It says, I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. Hiding how? He says, no word. Famine of the word of God. They're going to have no clues how to get out of this. Who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in him. So that's this quote right here out of Hebrews. We read this out of Psalm 22. I will proclaim your name to my brothers in the assembly and the church. And I will trust in Him. When everyone else is rejecting it, I'm going to trust in Him, and I'm going to wait. That's what the Messiah said, I'm going to wait. Now the next verse, that is Hebrews quotes right here, is the very next verse. The result of Jesus Christ saying, I will do it, I will wait, although I'm rejected, He went to the cross alone. Everybody ran, He's alone. Alright, I'll wait. I'll do it and I will wait. And guess what the next verse is? Look at this. This is the result of him waiting and going to the cross alone. He says in verse 8, now remember, this is Isaiah speaking. And then this is going to be picked up by Jesus in Hebrews. Here am I and the children of the Lord has given me. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty who dwells in Mount Zion. So in other words, after saying take the symbol or take the scroll, seal it up and put it with the remnant, put it with those disciples, then go and wait. And you can say with them, you can say, hear my, Isaiah then came over here. He didn't get caught up in all this stuff where he went over here and waited with his disciples, and waited with the remnants, and says, hear my, and the children, or the believers, the Lord has given me. We're going to wait. We are signs and symbols in Israel from the Lord Almighty. We are the signs. Remember what a sign is? A sign is for someone to say, you see something, but then there's a spiritual meaning behind it. Why was Isaiah different? Why were these people standing off to the side just watching? We're signs. We're here for you to say, I wonder what they're doing there. There must be a reason. Yeah, because we've got we know what we're waiting for you to catch on what's happening. So that was Isaiah's meeting. But now if we go to Hebrews, these verses put together, I will proclaim your name to my brothers in the assembly. I will put my trust in him and I will wait. And then here. Am I and my family, if you would, or my brothers, here are me and those that the Lord has given me, we are here. And let's go back to Hebrews and wrap this up very quickly for this evening. And the theme that we've seen tonight as we've gone through these verses in Hebrews chapter 2 is the son, although he's greater than the angels, he's got a greater message, he's going to rule in a greater kingdom that is to come. The son suffered. But the reason the son suffered was to be the pioneer through that suffering for the people that he wanted to deliver. He was the second Adam. Adam had got us into this position where we can't see, we don't even see what man was supposed to. We've lost the vision. It's been buried in sin. And we can't see it. Can you imagine having all of God's works under our hands, controlling everything? We can't even imagine that. But we do see Jesus. who became a little lower than the angels, died, suffered for us, and now is crowned with glory and honor. So now what we don't see, we know because we've seen Jesus. We can count on what's going to happen. And the reason He suffered was not because He was weak. The reason He suffered was to be that pioneer. And now He united with us before the suffering as a man, went through the suffering for us, and so now He's not ashamed to call us His brothers. And it's because the Old Testament said so. In the assembly, I'll sing with the brothers. I'll put my trust in God and wait. Because in the end, here am I and the family. Here am I and those the Lord has given me. Jesus, like it says later on, for the joy set before Him, He endured the crown. Jesus didn't suffer because He was weaker or confused. The plan backfired. He suffered because He wanted to fulfill these verses. He wanted the brothers. He wanted the family. He wanted those the Lord had given Him. He wanted to share his glory. He had the glory. He left the glory to come into the midst of the human race, to be a pioneer through the suffering, so we know that when we face suffering, and we face death, and we will face suffering, and we will face death, what is on the other side? We've never seen it. But we've seen Jesus. What's on the other side? Glory and honor. And that's it, Jesus. We have no fear. And we're going to get into those verses next. So there's no fear. To free those, let's read the next verse, verse 14. We'll pick it up next week. After having said, I will declare your name to my brothers. I'll put my trust in him. Here am I and the children the God has given me. Verse 14, Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity, so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is the devil, and free those, that's you and me, who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Now why should you not be afraid? Why are you no longer afraid of death? Well, look what's on the other side. Victory, deliverance, glory, honor. So, what happens on the other side? Jesus says, come here, watch. I will go through suffering, I'll go through death, and I'll show you what's on the other side. You want some of this? It's like, yeah. I mean, you do, but there's a path to get to it. Remember, again, we sum this up by the crown. comes after the cross, the cross before the crown. Well, let's bow our heads and pray. If you have any questions afterwards, please feel free. Father, we thank you so much for the word. We thank you for the chance to look into it. I ask that we may apply these things to our lives, that we may understand them. And we do ask the Spirit of God to reveal them to us in a deeper, richer way than we've ever understood before. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. There is class, but I do have a cross-country meet after school, so it shouldn't be a problem. But if it's touch and go and you're sitting in the driveway and the house is locked, I'm on my way. Yeah, yeah. John will get you in. And don't, it's going to be a tougher meet. Don't expect a victory report next week because we're going to the Metro Conference next week. If there is a victory, you will hear about it. Thank you for coming. Yeah, I do.