Chapter 2, Hebrews...

is where I'm going to pick up in my study of Hoping for Something Better by Nancy Guthrie. I think most of you have your books by now. So, let's get moving.

Chapter 2 of the book starts with Heb. 2:5-18. This section of scripture tells us more of how superior Jesus is to angels, to man, and to all of creation as well as describing how in Christ, God the Father will exalt man through Christ. This has always blown my mind. Particularly so after studying Romans 1-2 where the fullness of man's depravity is vividly described. I'm always left with the question, "How in the world does God choose to love me?"

Heb. 2 answers this question with resounding finality. Because of Jesus Christ. That truth alone, embraced through faith, will bring you to your knees. Look at verse 6b, "What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" This verse not only describes the place of man that God has given to him, beyond any deserving or earning of his own, but also points us to Christ, the Son of Man, who humbly took the place God gave to Him in the incarnation.

Nancy Guthrie speaks in Chapter 2 of man's original destiny to rule the world as redeemed men and women. The Fall completely perverted that destiny and now our attempts to rule anything at all are marred by sin.  Christ is our only redemption. He came in the flesh to identify with us, to demonstrate the power of God over sin, to free us from sin, and to be Lord over all things.

The last point, His Lordship over all things, is the crux of what I took from this chapter. Heb. 2:8 says, "Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him." That "yet" is one loaded word because it is full of life's current hardships. It is a barrel full of broken relationships, personal depravity and struggles with sin; lives rife with hate, wickedness and the world's perversions; brimming with illnesses, deaths and disasters; and the results of lives torn apart by grief, sorrow and anguish. One cannot look at today's world and ignore the score of things that are just not right.

It is hard to imagine in the dark face of all the not right things that it will one day be better. For me, it sums the point of Hebrews. Namely that God has given to us the better. God has established all that which is better. God is working to bring about nothing but the better. And He has done this, is doing this, and will continue until full completion to do this through the amazing, wonderful Person of Jesus Christ.

That's what I'm hoping for in my pursuit of something better. It's where I've laid my faith and life. At the foot of the cross, at the knee of the exalted Son of Man, who is NOW crowned with glory and honor. To Him alone be the praise.