Sermon Synopsis
This sermon presents Jesus as the true Son of Man of Hebrews 2, the One prophesied in Scripture, testified in the Gospels, and destined to rule the world to come. By becoming truly human, suffering, dying, and rising again, He made the perfect sacrifice, destroyed the devil’s power over death, sanctified His people, and brought many sons to glory. The message calls believers to hold fast to this great salvation, trust Christ in suffering and temptation, and rejoice that no one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. Its pastoral impact is to strengthen assurance, deepen worship, and keep the church centered on Jesus as better than all else.
Please note: This transcript is provided as close to verbatim record of the sermon.
Jesus Is Better: The True Son of Man
Text: Hebrews 2:5–18
Good morning, brethren. Thank you for faithfully praying for us speakers each Sunday. Let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Father, we thank You for the wonderful fellowship that we have this morning, for the words which You have given through various brothers here. And Father, we thank You for Your Son, Jesus Christ, as we are reminded each Sunday of what the Lord Jesus has done for us.
Father, we are now looking at Your message, and we ask and pray that You will help each one of us. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Unless specifically stated otherwise, all the Bible verses in this message are taken from the English Standard Version, or ESV.
Introduction to Hebrews
Hebrews was written primarily to people of Jewish background. They had heard the gospel preached by the apostles, and some believed in the Lord Jesus and were true believers. There were also some who professed to be Christians. But Hebrews was also written and included in the New Testament, and therefore it was given to the entire church.
Now in the church worldwide, similarly, there are those who believe and those who profess to believe, that is, nominal Christians. With this in mind, we look at Hebrews 2:5–18 and consider the topic: Jesus is better, the true Son of Man.
The name Son of Man is a name—ben Adam in Hebrew, bar enasha in Aramaic. Jesus used the title “Son of Man” 81 times in the Gospels, and it is used exclusively by Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.
By identifying with Adam, ben Adam, the Lord identified Himself not just with Jews, but with the whole of humanity. He fulfilled Genesis 3:15 as the woman’s offspring, born of a woman, born of a virgin, a true man and not an angel. He is our Messiah and Deliverer, who fulfilled prophecies in the Old Testament as the Son of Man who will rule over the whole world.
The Son of Man in the Gospels is directly linked to the prophecy in Daniel 7:13–14:
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.”
The Son of Man in the Synoptic Gospels
Let us take three selected references from the Synoptic Gospels regarding the Son of Man.
First, from the Gospel of Luke, where the Lord Jesus spoke about His suffering, death, and resurrection:
“And taking the twelve, he said to them, ‘See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.’ But the twelve understood none of these things.”
Daniel wrote that he saw in the night visions, and he saw with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man. Jesus spoke about this also in the Gospel of Mark, that He will come again in clouds with great glory and power.
“But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.”
We look at another place in Matthew where Jesus was tried. The high priest asked Him this question:
“I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
And Jesus said to him:
“You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
So the Jews, if they had read Daniel, would understand what Jesus was telling them.
Hebrews 2 begins by saying:
“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”
Last week our brother Izumi spoke to us about this. And if we read the whole of Hebrews, it reiterates the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Daniel 7 also speaks to us about Jesus, the Son of Man, being given dominion and glory and a kingdom, an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away.
Now let us go to Hebrews 2:5–8:
“For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,
‘What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
putting everything in subjection under his feet.’
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.”
Hebrews 2:6–8 is taken from Psalm 8 and is a messianic psalm. It speaks of the world to come, the future world and its government.
The future world and its government will not come under an angelic administration, but a human administration governed by ben Adam, the Son of Man, putting everything in subjection under His feet. Man will have dominion over the whole earth, just as it was told to us in Genesis. He will have dominion over the whole earth because of Jesus, the Son of Man.
But this is the future world. And perhaps to some of the hearers, the future seems distant. Perhaps this was the second generation of Christians who had not come into contact with Jesus, who heard only from the apostles, and they may have been asking, “We are suffering. What about the present time?”
And this is something that we may hear from people: “Where is God with all the wars and suffering that are happening in the world? Where is God?”
So Hebrews 2:8–9 tells us:
“At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.”
Yes, we do not see His visible kingdom today, everything in subjection to Him. No, we do not see that. But we see Jesus, the man, ben Adam, who was made lower than the angels, who went through suffering and death.
This morning we were speaking and remembering the Lord Jesus, the Son of God who became man to taste death for every man. It was a substitutionary death, as we heard in the gospel message last Sunday, talking about the substitutionary death of Jesus.
Now we shall look at another verse, and this is Hebrews 2:10:
“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
Now what does this word “fitting” mean? It means to stand out, to be conspicuous, to be clearly seen as becoming of the Creator God. It was fit for Him. It was fitting for Jesus, the captain of our salvation, to suffer for us, to stand out.
There are two other words we are going to look at.
The word “glory” comes from the Hebrew word kabod, and the root idea of kabod is weight or worthiness. It is used of men to describe their wealth, their standing, their honor, their splendor, their reputation.
And our kabod is not on earth. Our kabod is in heaven. The real prosperity gospel is that our wealth, our reputation, our standing, is in heaven.
The next word is archegos. Archegos means captain, prince, author, or predecessor. This word is translated “captain” in this verse. But in another verse, Hebrews 12:2, it is translated as “author”—the author and finisher of our faith.
Hebrews 2:10 tells us of that single perfect sacrifice. It was fitting for Jesus, the Creator God, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
The Son of Man was lifted up on the cross. John 3:14. And Hebrews 10:14 tells us that:
“By a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.”
Brothers and sisters, let us today consider the cross. That cross was the single perfect sacrifice for all of us.
Let us look at the next word: sanctification—sanctified.
Hebrews 2:11 says:
“For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.”
Now sanctify means to make holy, to purify, to separate from the unholy, to consecrate. And sanctification involves the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified. You cannot have one without the other. They are all of one.
Just like marriage, you cannot marry one person. Sanctification needs more than one party. Jesus sanctifies; we are being sanctified too. So we are made holy, we are purified, we are separated, consecrated by Jesus, the great High Priest, who did it by His own blood, the blood of the Lamb of God.
And because we are made holy, purified, separated, and consecrated, the Lord is not ashamed to call us brothers, saying:
“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
“I will put my trust in him.”
“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
These are three sentences taken from the Messianic Psalms and from Isaiah 8. These Messianic Psalms—the first taken from Psalm 22 and the second from Psalm 18—describe the sufferings of Jesus on the cross. In Psalm 22, it talks about the agony, the pain, in very distinctive terms, so clear to us that anyone who reads it can identify it with Jesus on the cross. And Isaiah 8 also prophesied the rejection of the Lord by the Jews.
But these words are not strange to us, because we do it every Sunday. We declare the name of Jesus Christ in the midst of the assembly. We sing praises to God. We put our trust in the Lord. And we look at ourselves and say, we are the children whom God has given to the Lord Jesus.
This brings us to John 10, at the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah. The Feast of Dedication celebrates the cleansing of the temple at the time of Judas Maccabeus, when Antiochus Epiphanes contaminated the temple. It was a ten-day feast.
Jesus was in the temple, and the Jews gathered around Him and said to Him:
“How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
Jesus answered them:
“I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.”
Hebrews 2:13 says:
“Here am I and the children whom God has given me.”
And in John 10:27–29, following what He said just now:
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”
Brothers and sisters, we thank the Lord that we know Him, that we are the children whom God has given Him. And no one can snatch us out of our Father’s hand and from the hand of the Lord.
“Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”
Now we read here these words: flesh and blood, slavery all their lives, fear of death. In this verse we can contrast the unbeliever with the believer.
There are three verses which tell us what state we were in, and what state the unbeliever is in.
Psalm 51:5:
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.”
John 8:34:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.”
And 1 Corinthians 15:56:
“The sting of death is sin.”
So flesh and blood means you are mortal. You will die one day, if the Lord does not come. Slavery to sin all their lives. Fear of death.
But because of the Lord, you are immortal—you have eternal life. Because of the Lord, you who were a slave to sin have now become a slave of the Lord, a servant of the Lord. You who once felt the sting of death now have victory over death.
So fear not. Revelation 1:17–18 says:
“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
We do not know whether one hundred percent of you here are children of the Lord. We do not know. No one can stand up here and say, “I know everyone here one hundred percent.” But the Lord knows.
And perhaps this is one Sunday when I told myself, I am preaching a gospel message. It is like being an evangelist here.
John 8:36 says:
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
This is Jesus. It is not angels that He helps, but He helps the offspring of Abraham. Because we are the offspring of Abraham because we have the righteousness of faith. It is not the natural children of Abraham who are his offspring. That is what Romans tells us. It is those who have the righteousness of faith. That is why he is the father of many nations.
So why did Jesus come as the Son of Man?
“Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
He had to be made like us, like His brothers. An angel cannot be the merciful and faithful High Priest. It must be a human being. It must be a man. Only a man can make propitiation, can make that atonement, that reconciliation.
We know that in Jewish religious practice they had the Day of Atonement, where the high priest made reconciliation for the sins of the people. Today we are here because Jesus has sanctified us and has made propitiation for us.
And He has shown that because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.
The reality is that all of us face temptation every day. Day after day, we face temptation. Although the Lord has done that work for us, we still need His help. And because He was tempted before, and He has suffered, He is able to help all of us.
Conclusion: The Gospel in a Nutshell from Hebrews 2
The summary of today’s message is a gospel in a nutshell in Hebrews 2.
Jesus is the Son of Man prophesied in Scripture and testified by Himself in the Gospels. He is the Son of Man who, in the coming future, will rule and govern the world, and everything will be subjected to Him.
Jesus partook of flesh and blood by becoming the Son of Man, and through His vicarious and substitutionary death for everyone, as the perfect ben Adam, He rendered powerless the power of the devil over men and freed those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. This is the great salvation that we must not neglect.
The Lord Jesus tasted death for us in order to bring us to glory, to our inheritance as the children of God. He is able to do this because He is the Lamb of God who died for us and the great High Priest who sanctified and made propitiation for us. We are reconciled to God, children of our Father in heaven, and brothers of the Lord Jesus.
Now, some of us may be tempted. We may be suffering. The Lord sympathizes with us because He has gone through temptation and is able to help us who are being tempted.
Let us declare the Lord’s name to our brethren. Let us sing praise to our Lord. Let us put our trust in Him. No one is able to snatch us out of the Father’s hand.
And when we die, the Lord Jesus, who brings many sons to glory, will bring us to glory. Stand fast. Hold fast, brethren. Remember the temptations of Jesus by Satan. Jesus is better than all that the devil offers.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, we thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank You that He has done all this for us so that we are sanctified, we are separated, we are made holy, we are purified.
And we are so thankful to You that today we can stand before You as Your children and as brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ. We praise You for all that You have done, and we give thanks in the name of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.