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Once again, good morning. And please turn in your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2. Be looking at verses 5 through 10 today. I'm sorry, 5 through 9. Hebrews 2, verses 5 through 9. Verse 5, for he did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking.

But one has testified somewhere saying, What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you are concerned about him? You have made him for a little while lower than the angels. You have crowned him with glory and honor, and have appointed him over the works of your hands.

You have put all things in subjection under his feet. For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him, but we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Well, welcome to the Advent season, Christmas season. I know we're not one of the liturgical kinds of churches that has a lot of the bells and whistles of big celebration. And in fact, we're kind of humble, the baptistic tradition. You can see our walls are kind of plain and that kind of thing.

So, we don't really celebrate the Advent wreath. Some of you do. But I want to share a story with where the Advent wreath came from, because it is a very significant custom and something that is to be commendable. Christmas wreath. You know, long before the wreath became associated with celebrating Christmas, it was a well-known emblem of dignity, power, and victory, especially in ancient Greece and Rome.

A bride on her wedding day was often crowned with a wreath of flowers, celebrating the joy of the occasion. Oftentimes, an important guest at a feast would be distinguished by a crown of leaves. However, the most prominent uses of the wreath in antiquity involved celebrating victory, celebrating victory.

Victorious athletes in the ancient Olympic Games were crowned with wreaths. Olive wreaths were used in Olympia, laurel wreaths were used in Delphi, pine in the Isthmian Games. And military heroes, when they returned from their victorious campaigns, would be wreathed in glory and paraded around a city with great pomp and with much celebration.

Such was the ancient use of the wreath. But something happened in the 16th century and then again in the 19th century that added new layers and depths to this wreath as an emblem of victory that made it a significant part of our modern Christmas celebrations. It was during the Reformation of the 16th century when the good news of Jesus Christ was taking fresh roots in the hearts of the Germanic peoples of northern and eastern Europe.

It was then that the custom of bringing evergreens into the home as part of the Christmas celebration also began taking roots. Trees were trimmed and the leftover trims were woven into wreaths that were used. To decorate the home. The circular shape depicted God's eternal love for humanity with no beginning, no ending.

The evergreen material depicted the eternal life of a new humanity and the hope of eternal vigor and life and strength for humanity. Believers would often place a candle in the wreath that represented Christ as the light of the world. And it was in this way Christ was celebrated as the most significant expression of God's eternal love and man's only hope for eternal life.

And then it was during the 19th century that the Christmas wreath entered into a new phase of development. It was in the same region as I just mentioned, but in the times of the great Prussian kings and queens, that the light of Christ filled the heart of a young man named Johann.

Johann, who was driven by a passion to make Christ known, became a pastor, an educator, and a missionary to the people of Hamburg. He loved children, and as a founder of the home mission movement in Germany, he opened a school and orphanage called the Rough House. The Rough House.

The house cared for neglected children by providing food, clothing, an education, and teaching in the ways of Christ. Johann's love for Christ was contagious, and Christmas was always a special time at the rough house. One year, in order to help focus the children's excitement leading up to Christmas Day, Johann invented the first Advent wreath.

It had a total of 24 candles, each marking a day leading up to Christmas. Four of the candles were larger than the others, which represented the four Sundays of Advent. Every day, during the corporate prayer time, a child would light a candle until at last, on Christmas Eve, all candles would illuminate the prayer room of the rough house.

And there's a picture of Johann's first wreath. Since then, lighting Advent candles became a tradition all over Hamburg and throughout the region. Eventually, the number of candles was reduced from 24 to 4 and were lit on the four Sundays leading up to Christmas. Three of the candles, usually purple, typically represented the hope of humanity, the peace that comes in Christ, and the love displayed and joy in Christ.

The fourth candle was usually red, and it speaks of Christ's sacrifice. And oftentimes, a white candle, known as the Christ candle, was placed in the center of the wreath and was lit on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Many of you have probably celebrated this tradition. Well, in the early part of the 20th century, the tradition of the Advent wreath spread and made its way to America.

But the word Advent simply means the arrival of a notable person or a notable thing, a notable event. And in the context of Christmas, Advent is a season that celebrates the arrival of Jesus and all that his first coming involved. And if there is any victory that should be commemorated in human history, it should be that of our Lord over sin and death.

That's the greatest victory. If there is any individual who should be honored and celebrated among us today, it is Jesus. He is humanity's great. Champion and advocate. And it's in Him we place our faith, our hope, and our joy. And so I'm excited to be in Hebrews 2 this Advent season.

It is a great chapter, and it reveals many reasons why we can and should celebrate our King and our Savior, the great victory and the great Victor, Jesus Christ. So I'm looking forward to what's ahead, the next few weeks, as we look at the glory of Jesus. And I hope as you come and worship with us, that Jesus will become even larger in your mind and in your heart, and that he would be the one that you seek to glorify and magnify with the few days that you have on this earth.

Today's message is entitled Wreathed in Glory. And it's going to focus on this context, on this contest from which Jesus rose victoriously. Verse 9 of our text, it speaks of him being crowned with glory. Crowned, that's the idea of the victor's wreath. Wreathed in glory. Literally, what that says.

The crown emphasizes the victory of Christ and the victor, Christ himself. And all that's, of course, memorialized and symbolized in the Advent wreath that has become much a part of our Christmas celebrations. And what are the Christmas celebrations? Well, Christmas celebrations are about celebrating the incarnation. There's no other holiday or holy day like this on any calendar anywhere, where God became man.

And it should be celebrated. God, Emmanuel, God with us. Well, this morning I want to look at Jesus as our champion, the victor, Jesus Christ, and the victory he won, and the crown placed upon him. So I want you to see our need for a champion. I want you to see what Jesus overcame and what all that implies, and so that you and I will magnify him in our hearts, in our lives.

First of all, it's evident in our text that Jesus is our champion, and I want to show you how this thought. Is developed and how we arrive at that conclusion. Verse 2 and verse 5, very clear that the world to come is not going to be subjected to angels.

Look at verse 5. For he did not subject to angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking. Really, the last thought about angels happens at the end of chapter 1. Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

The author then adds this parenthetical thought in verses 2 and chapter 2, verse 1 through verse 4. We looked at that last time. Why we should pay much more attention. You don't neglect this salvation. And then after this parenthetical interruption, he gets back on the topic of angels and he says flat out, God did not subject the angels to the angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking.

An observation. There is a world to come. Plainly stated. And it's one that will be inhabited. The word for world is the inhabited world. The world of humanity that is to come is what they are speaking about. And it's one very different from the one that we've experienced all our lives.

The world to come. But then this. Begs a question. If the world to come isn't subjected to angels, which is emphatically stated, then to whom is it subjected? Well, the answer is going to be found in Psalm 8, because he's going to read. He's going to use Psalm 8 to answer the question.

The world to come, in verse 5, is very clearly not going to be subjected to angels, but in verses 6 through 8, it's very clear that it's going to be subjected to us. To us. And when I speak of us, I'm speaking about redeemed man, and I include myself, and I include all of y'all who have been born from above.

It is to you that the world to come is to be subjected. And so we're going to take a little excursion to Psalm 8. I want to walk through Psalm 8 because that's to give you an idea of where the thought that the author of Hebrews is picking up and the thought that he's advancing and what answers the question, to whom is the world to come subjected to?

So, as you come to Psalm 8, it's a psalm, and I'll just briefly go over this. It's an overview fashion, but it's a psalm. It's about the majesty of God and the majesty of man. The majesty of God and the majesty of man. So, let's just walk through this.

There's the title, verse 1, for the choir director on the getith. Does anybody know what a getith is? Does anybody play a getith? No, I don't think so. And of all the research I did, I'm convinced nobody else does either. But it's a psalm of David. David begins by declaring the majesty of God.

Look at verse 1. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth? How majestic is your name? How very wide and expansive is your name in all the earth. Word for name involves reputation, standing. O Lord, O Yahweh our Adonai, how wide. Wide, how gloriously expansive is your name, is your reputation in all the earth.

David then sees God's majesty in the heavenly bodies. Look at what, again, what he says in verse 1: who have displayed your splendor above the heavens. You have displayed your splendor, your unparalleled strength, your power, your vitality all over above the heavens. It's as if David is looking up and marveling at the starry hosts, as does everyone else who looks up and marvels.

God's reputation, just look at the stars above, and I don't care who you are, you realize the expansiveness, the glorious expanse of God's creation, and the one who rules it all. Some people think that David is out there with the sheep, looking up at the stars. And I might be inclined to go with that until I read the next verse.

David. Also sees God's majesty in the mouth of nursing babies. Look at what he says in verse 2 of Psalm 8. For from the mouth of infants and nursing babes, you have established strength because of your adversaries to make the enemy and the revengeful cease. Incredible things he says here.

This is one reason why I don't think he's out in the styx out in the desert with a bunch of sheep. His mind has been catapulted to the heavenlies, and now something has gripped his mind, the mouth of an infant, probably his son. From the mouth of infants, you have established strength.

The word for establish is appointed. Just like he appointed the stars in their place, he has appointed the mouth, infants, nursing babes. He has given a duty, assigned a duty to the human mouth. Force. You have established strength. Forced. You have established majestic praise. You have established might, power, a little mouth.

Great power. That's why I think one of the things that may very well have drawn his attention to this aspect was holding his son. So I think he's probably holding his son. At least that's how I could step into this. How else would he go from a mind, watching the expanse, and then all of a sudden be captivated?

See, and you can see that happens. I can see some of you have babies in the room. Everybody's focused on the baby, that smile. And God loves toothless grins. And I know that because he starts us out with toothless grins. And guess where he ends us? Toothless grins.

So I know God loves those toothless grins. But there's something very profound here. It is the heavens that can declare the glory of God, but it is the mouth of humanity that gives utterance to it. You have established strength because of your adversaries, those hating you, to make the enemy, those opposed to you, and the revengeful, those who are taking vengeance in their own.

Hands. It is through that human mouth, that great appointment, that all of this will cease. In fact, it's Jesus who cites this verse in Matthew 21:16. You remember when the children, upon that day of entry into Jerusalem, on that triumphal day, when he marches in, children were in the temple shouting, Hosanna to the Son of David.

And the leaders wanted him to silence them. And Jesus quotes this verse, Have you not heard? It's out of the mouth of infants. And I believe childlike faith is in view. You have established the power to silence the adversary. You see, God has a high and mighty purpose for the mouth of mankind.

It's a glorious purpose for the stars, but a high and mighty purpose for our mouths. It's ordained there, the declaration of his praise. Well, then David goes on to observe something seemingly insignificant. Mankind. He observes the seemingly insignificance of mankind. Look at verse 3, Psalm 8. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon, and the stars, which you have ordained, what is man that you take thought of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

It's like he's looking up and he's looking down, and he's seeing this glorious expanse, and he's saying, What is man? The question, that you take thought of him, and then even the son of man that you would care for him. And here, the reference to son of man is not referring to Christ, it is not referring to Adam.

Adam is not a son of man, he's referring to a child in general. This is a diminutive of man, meaning what he's saying, this is a littler, if man is insignificant, how much more a child of man, helpless, and boy, they're helpless. How much more insignificant is a single child born to man?

He says it like this: What is man that you take thought of him? What is man, Enosh, that's the word for fallen humanity. What is fallen humanity that you're even bothering to think about him? And the son of man, the son of Adam's race, the son of him.

Why would you care for him? Why would you concern yourself to the point of ministering to him? What is man? God, I look up, I see the glory all over, I see this little guy, and I ask myself, what is it that you are remembering mankind as a whole, the whole human race, and then you pay attention to even the least of these, that you are caring for even the least?

That's the seemingly insignificance that David observes. But then David goes on to observe the incomparable glory and majesty of mankind. Look at what happens in verse 5. Yet you have made him a little lower than God. Septuagint says angels. Angels is probably correct. You have made him a little lower than God.

It's the word Elohim, which sometimes can be translated as angels or God. You have made him a little lower than God, yet, and you crown him with glory and majesty. You are crowning him with the Victor's wreath. That's the word. You are wreathing him in glory. Verse 6, you make him to rule over the work of your hands.

You have put all things under his feet. Strong language. You are causing him to be wreathed in glory. You make him rule over the works of your hands. God has a plan for humanity, and that is to rule over the works of his hand. And those ways says, you have put all things under his feet.

What God is doing with this little guy. You make him to rule. You are causing him to rule. You have ordained that he would rule. And you are making sure that he will rule over the works of your hands. And keep in mind, David has just said, I look at the stars, the work of your fingers.

And now I'm marveling at this little guy. Man, and I'm asking the deep question: why do you even care about humanity? And his answer is that the majesty seen in the heavens, there's also a majesty seen in humanity. And that's what David is exploring. Then David goes on to give some examples of man's dominion.

In verse 7, all sheep and oxen, you know, cows, milk, butter, cheese, milkshakes, ice cream, steak, hamburgers, cheeseburgers. All sheep, all oxen, and also the beasts of the field. Even the behemoths, it's a word. Verse 8, the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, whatever passes through the paths of the sea.

Then David goes on to end the psalm where he began by focusing on the majesty of God's name. O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. It's as though God's reputation, his name, is closely associated with mankind. He put his glory on display in the heavens, but he puts his reputation on display in humanity.

God's majesty is connected to man. majesty and what God has purposed for man to become. You see, man's ability to rule over all things is connected to God in a profound way. We bear his image. Therefore, the way we live is very much connected to his reputation and how he deals with us is very much connected to his reputation and what he is doing in us is very much connected to his name because we bear his image.

And that is why there is judgment and that is why there is salvation. Because of God's reputation. But the heart of the Psalm is a question. And the answer involves God's name. So if you look at the Psalm as a whole, it's, I don't know if you can see it up there, but you can see verses 4 through 6.

That's what is taken into Hebrews. That's the portion of Scripture that the writer of Hebrews takes to make his point and to answer his question. So let's go back to Hebrews chapter 2, verse 5, 5 through 9. Remember, Jesus is our champion, wreathed in glory. Progression of this thought starts in verse 5.

The world to come is not going to be subjected to angels. The answer comes in verses 6 through 8 that it will be subjected to us. It will be subjected to us. I showed you the starting point, question at the heart of the psalm: what is man? Where he picks up.

The ending point. Notice that he stops with all things. He doesn't go in to give the examples of the sheep and the cows and cattle. He doesn't go into that. He just, the ending point of the excerpt that he takes and ends in verse 8 is ends with all things.

You have put all things in subjection under his feet. This is an incredible statement about humanity. The answer to the question in the Psalm and being asked here, what is man that you're mindful of him? Why would you care to minister him? Why are you paying attention to him?

And the answer is because God. God has ordained mankind to rule over the world to come. And this is why he is mindful of his people. If the world to come isn't subjected to angels, then to whom is it subjected to? Well, the answer in Psalm 8 is to mankind.

And the answer here is to mankind. I already said that. The world to come is subjected to man, not to angels. You see, God has so much more in store for us than what we see in this world today. And his purpose hasn't changed from the very beginning.

Do you remember what God said was the purpose for mankind? Genesis 1:26, then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

That was God's intention for man to rule. He has to rule if he's going to bear God's image, because that's what God does. So the world to come is not going to be subjected to angels. It's going to be subject to. Be subjected to us, even though the current world is not subjected to us.

Even though the current world, as we see it, is not subjected to us. Notice the author's commentary on the portion of Psalm 8 that he ate it. He ends, if you have a Bible that has capital letters, you can see very clearly in the text where the where the commentary starts and where the citation of the Psalm 8 ends in verse 8.

Second part of verse 8 is his commentary. For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him, but now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. So the commentary, the author of Hebrews is saying, there is nothing that is not subject to him.

And if you have a Bible that pays attention to the capital letters, notice him is lowercase. Nothing is subject to him. That means it's not referring to God or the divine. It's referring to man. Nothing that is not subject to him. And that's right. God, in his eternal purpose for mankind, left nothing that will not be subject to mankind, of course.

God excluded. Paul is going to state that very emphatically elsewhere. But now, but now, he says, but now, at this moment in time, the moment of the writing and the moment today, we are still in this current world, but now, speaking of this present world, we do not yet see all things subjected to man.

Think about this. Adam was originally given dominion and a kingdom. Adam was to rule over everything except the one who subjected everything to him. That's what he was to do, was to rule, the image of God, rule over everything, all things subjected to him. But one from the angelic realm enticed Adam to sin against God.

This was the serpent. As a result, man fell into sin, slavery, death, and decay. Adam no longer ruled over the world as God desired, but was ruled over by the world. You see, Adam lost humanity's kingdom in the garden, and he lost humanity's crown. And since then, man has been subjected to the evil one, been subjected to each other.

Subjected to the earth, subjected to death. All of these rule over. 1 John 5:19, John the Apostle says this, We know that we are of God and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The whole inhabited world is under the power of the evil one.

Yeah, Satan is not in the abyss, he currently rules. Genesis 3:16 is a result of the fall. Eve is going to have a greater pain in childbirth. And God says this: yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. Curse upon Adam. Cursed is the ground because of you.

In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life, boreth both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you. And you will eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face. You will eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken.

For dust where you are, and to dust you shall return. Think about it. We are subjected to the earth. I'll tell you what, you can go look at my garden, and you know that earth doesn't obey me. Oh, I can fight with it and I can wrestle with it and get something out of it until the day I can't anymore and I go back to dust.

Oh, the earth rules over us. And such is the fallen world in which we live. And so, even though at present we don't see all things subjected to mankind, the ordination to such purpose stands. That's the testimony of Scripture. God made us, He has a purpose for humanity.

That's why He thinks about us and remembers us and ministers to us because He has a future for us. The question becomes: how is God going to accomplish His purpose for mankind? Who is going to recover man's lost destiny? Adam lost his destiny. Christ restores our lost destiny.

Jesus has ensured that the world to come will be subjected to us because Jesus has restored our lost destiny. Jesus is our champion. Only He could bring this about. Look at verse 9. We don't see the world. Verse 8, we don't see all things subjected to man, but we do see him, capital H.

We do see him, Christ. Speaking of deity, we do see him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. We see this now.

Of course, we have to see it by faith. By faith, our champion is a man, a man in whom God perfectly reigns. One of us has defeated death for all of us. One champion has gone forth from humanity and has restored our lost destiny. Our champion is a man in whom God perfectly reigns.

He is of God and he is from God as the Son of God, and yet he is of man and born. To man as the Son of Man. You remember when David took on Goliath and how that excited and mobilized the nation of Israel against the Philistines. One of us has defeated their champion.

And this rallied the forces. Brothers and sisters, do you not see Jesus? He is the only one across humanity who has come forth out of the grave. He has taken down the Goliaths that would taunt us and taunt the living God. Let this settle in your heart and move you to magnify Him.

Jesus is our champion and rightfully wreathed in glory. Son of God. Think about what had to happen. What had to happen for Jesus to restore to us our lost destiny? Well, the Son of God had to become a Son of Man. And that's a huge accomplishment in and of itself.

And he'd be willing to leave such glory. And undergo such humiliation. He did not abhor the virgin's womb. For a little while. Notice we do see him who is made for a little while lower than the angels. For a little while. This is speaking of his first advent.

From his conception to his ascension, he demonstrated his authority, man's authority, over every realm. It was Jesus. He was a man who walked on water. Yes, Son of God, Son of Man, but don't miss the fact, he's the Son of Man. This was a human who walked on water.

It was a human, a man who drove out the demons. It was a man who healed the sick. It was a man who brought forth the earth's abundance. It was a man who raised the dead. There was no realm outside of Christ's authority. Jesus, we have seen him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely Jesus.

He had to master the tempter, which he did. The one that took out Adam in paradise, Jesus took out in the most harsh and difficult circumstances. He mastered the tempter. He resisted every impulse of his flesh that recoiled from obeying God, and he resisted every temptation to cease from loving his people.

Now that's a hero. That's one that deserves to be wreathed in glory in your heart and honor in your heart. So the Son of God had to become the Son of man in order to restore our lost destiny. But he had to become the Son of Man in order to suffer and die for the benefit of his people.

So that, look back at verse 8, Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, so that, by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone. You see, the only way man can reign as sovereign in the world to come is for man to survive the curse of God.

Yeah, the curse is death. Separation. Physically and spiritually, forever. The penalty of sin is death, and man must pay it. But here's something clear from Scripture. Death cannot keep the sinless in the grave. Death cannot keep the sinless in the grave. And that is why Christ rose from the dead, because he was sinless.

No penalty to pay for his own sake. And so, what happened? In dying on behalf of his people, what happens? He took away their sin. Remember the scapegoat? Through death, he took away his sin. Where does that leave us? Blameless, sinless, with his righteousness. And death cannot keep the sinless in the grave.

And so we will experience his resurrection. Yes, we've experienced already, if you're in Christ, a spiritual resurrection, but there is a physical resurrection to come. And so, in dying on behalf of his people, he took away their sin, and those who Christ died for will come forth as resurrected kings in Christ's coming kingdom.

And so, Jesus is the guarantee of our resurrection. He has ensured that man's lost destiny has been recovered by him. I appreciate John MacArthur's comment on this topic. Looking forward, he says this: someday in the world to come, When the kingdom comes, hospitals will be closed, doctors will be out of business, and the ravenous nature of wild animals and of human beings will be changed.

The crops and trees will no longer be infested. The game of politics will be over and wars will cease. Man, redeemed man, will reign, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war.

A day is coming when, in the wonderful plan of God, the dominion that man lost will be given to him again. God's redeemed ones, his children, will never again be subject to death. They will be like the angels. In fact, in the kingdom, they will reign over the angels.

And it is for this reason that Jesus sits as a man, Son of God, Son of Man, wreathed in glory and honor at the right hand of the Father. He's wearing the victor's crown. Glory, radiance, brilliance, the radiance and brilliance of what God is. God intends man to be.

Honor the king of the highest magnitude and the most worthy of our affection, our obedience, and our celebration. You see, the Christmas wreath tells the story of how the God-man recovered the destiny of mankind. It glorifies and honors the greatest of victors and the greatest of victories. It was a work of God in that God became flesh, but it was a work of man as man that subjected the universe to man.

So whether or not you use wreaths in your celebration of the incarnation, remember that our champion, Jesus Christ, has rightfully been wreathed in glory and honor. He has recovered your original destiny if you are in him. So as I said earlier, if there's any victory that should be commemorated in human history, it should be that of our Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death.

If there is any individual who should be honored and celebrated as supreme in our life, Hearts today, it is Jesus. He is our great champion, and in Him, rightfully, we put our faith, our hope, find our peace, find our joy. And so, I encourage you to, during these darkest days of the year, as the light gets shorter and the days get shorter and shorter, it is during these darkest days that we as Christians celebrate the brightest light.

So, let's magnify Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do bow our hearts in awe of what you have accomplished for us by sending your Son to become one of us and then through Him gaining the great victory as the greatest victor over the greatest enemies in the universe that has set itself that have set themselves against you and against your people.

Father, we thank you for His victory. We are humbled by the truth of these words. Father, may we, with our mouths, that you have ordained praise and strength, may you use our humble mouths. Our humble lives to magnify and to give thanks and glory as the stars above.

And even more so, help us articulate your great name and bring everything in submission to him for his glory and for your name's sake, how majestic it is. In Jesus' name, amen.