Although the situation at the end of the book of Genesis was very pitiful, it is most promising by the time we come to Psalm 8. The psalmist surely was inspired when he said, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (vv. 3-4). Under the inspiration of God, the psalmist prophesied the recovery of what had been lost in Adam. He repeated the words of Genesis 1, prophesying that man’s lost ordination was to be recovered. Hence, Psalm 8 is a recovery of man’s lost ordination which was given in Genesis 1. The divine ordination bestowed upon the created man in Genesis 1 was lost at the time of man’s fall. The psalmist prophesied that this ordination would be recovered. As we shall see shortly, the man prophesied in Psalm 8 is the Lord Jesus. This is revealed in Hebrews 2.
In the prophecy regarding the recovery of man’s lost ordination in Psalm 8 it says that God has made man “a little lower than the angels.” In Hebrews 2:7, it is quoted as “a little inferior to the angels.” This is according to the physical, not the positional, situation. Physically speaking, man is lower than or inferior to the angels.
However, the prophecy in Psalm 8 says that God “has crowned” man, who is lower than the angels, “with glory and honor.” This was not fulfilled in any man until the man Jesus ascended to the heavens. Hence, this prophecy is concerning the Lord as a man and it is fulfilled in Him.
The prophecy in Psalm 8 also says that God has made man to have dominion over the works of His hands and that He has put all things under his feet. In the quotation in Hebrews 2 it says that God has set man over the works of His hands and has subjected all things under His feet. Clearly this is a repetition of what is mentioned in Genesis 1:26-28. It may be called the recovery of what was given to man in Genesis 1 and was lost due to the fall of man in Genesis 3.
Hebrews 2:6-9 is the fulfillment of the prophecy in Psalm 8. It tells us that the man in this fulfillment is Jesus. Jesus is the second man (1 Cor. 15:47). Although the first man failed God in His purpose, the second man succeeded. In Genesis 1 is the man in God’s creation with God’s eternal purpose. That man failed God. Then Psalm 8, speaking about the recovery of man’s lost ordination, prophesied of another man. Without this second man, we and the ordination given to man are lost. But we have the second man who has recovered man’s lost ordination and has fulfilled God’s original purpose. This second man is presented to us in Hebrews 2.
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 (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. Why did He take 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.