Hebrews 2:7-8, which is addressed to God, says, “You...have set Him over the works of Your hands; You have subjected all things under His feet.” These verses refer to Genesis 1, which tells us that God set Adam, the man created by God, over the works of God’s hands (vv. 26-28). This indicates that Adam, as the head of God’s creation, was a prefigure of Christ (Rom. 5:14). God’s subjecting all things under the feet of Adam typifies God’s subjecting all things under the feet of Christ, the reality of Adam as the head of God’s creation.
In His exaltation, Christ was made Head over all things (Heb 2:8; Eph. 1:22). God has subjected all things under His feet. Now He is waiting for only one thing—for the subtle Satan and all His enemies to be made His footstool.
According to Hebrews 2:9, God made Christ a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death “so that by the grace of God He might taste death on behalf of everything.” Man is inferior to the angels in that whereas man is limited and bound in the matter of time and space, the angels are not limited to the same extent but enjoy greater freedom. Christ is the unlimited, eternal, omnipresent Creator; as such, He is not bound by time and space. But when Christ became a man, He was limited in the matter of time. For instance, while He was in Galilee, He could not simultaneously be in Jerusalem; rather, to go to Jerusalem, He had to walk a long distance. While He was with Martha and Mary in Martha’s home, He could not be with others who were staying elsewhere at that time. In this sense, even Christ in the days of His flesh was inferior to the angels.
In eternity Christ was the Creator, unlimited omnipresent, but when He became a man in time, He was limited so that one day He could go to the cross to deal with the universal problem—death. Death is a problem not only to man but also to the entire universe. Death is the last enemy of Christ to be abolished (1 Cor. 15:26). In order to suffer death and thus destroy and nullify death, Christ had to become a man and lose His freedom temporarily, for thirty-three and a half years. In that sense, He was inferior to the angels during that period. However, three days after His death He resurrected out of that inferiority and is now much superior to all the angels. He is now omnipresent; He can be simultaneously in the heavens and on the earth.
The man Jesus, in the fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 8, was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death (Heb. 2:9). According to our physical make-up, we are inferior to the angels. The make-up of the angels is somewhat superior to ours. When Jesus came as a man, His physical make-up was also inferior to that of the angels. He became a man, taking on man’s flesh, blood, and nature. He took on a physical make-up that was inferior to that of the angels for the purpose of suffering death for us. In order to suffer death, He needed a physical body. Without such a physical body, there would have been no way for Him to die for our sins. This was the reason that He was made a little inferior to the angels.
Christ was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death so that by the grace of God He might taste death on behalf of everything. This means that He died for everything. Christ tasted death not only for human beings but for everything, every creature. The Lord Jesus’ redemption was accomplished not only for people but for everything created by God. Thus, God can reconcile all things to Himself through Christ (Col. 1:20). This is clearly typified by the redemption accomplished through Noah’s ark, in which not only eight persons but all living things created by God were saved (Gen. 7:13-23). This is a profound revelation. We should be impressed that Christ not only tasted death for man but also for all other things. This is the reason we say that Christ’s death was an all-inclusive death.
Romans 8:21 says, “In hope that the creation itself will also be freed from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” The whole creation needs to be freed from the slavery of corruption, so the whole creation needs Christ’s redemption. Everything in the old creation is corrupting, decaying, and dying. In this universe everything, including human beings, animals, and plants, is decaying. Everything created in the whole universe needs redemption. Eventually, the millennium will be a time of the restoration of all things. Restoration implies degradation, and degradation comes from sin.
In the universe two rebellions brought in death, corruption, and degradation to the entire creation. One was the satanic rebellion, and the other was man’s rebellion. Before man’s rebellion there was a satanic rebellion, which contaminated the heavens. Satan’s rebellion contaminated, made filthy, all the heavenly things. Such a contaminated, degraded universe can be restored only through Christ’s redemption. Before the creation can be restored, it must be redeemed. Christ died on the cross for all the items of the creation so that He could reconcile all these items back to God. Christ’s redemption is a foundation laid for the upcoming restoration. When the restoration comes, the slavery of corruption will be over. The day is coming when decay and corruption will be over and death will be swallowed up. Today the entire creation is under the slavery of corruption; hence, the entire creation is groaning. Everything is groaning because everything is under the slavery of corruption.
The man Jesus was made a little inferior to the angels because of the suffering of death, yet this inferiority was only for a certain period of time. Through His death and resurrection, this one man was not only made superior to the angels but also has become a corporate man, the new man, composed of all the believers in Christ (Eph. 2:14-15).