Darkness and Ashes
Welcome to Advent.
What is Advent?
Advent is the season before Christmas.
What kind season is Advent?
Advent is a season of waiting.
Where are we waiting?
In a land of deep darkness.
Over the last week I’ve been praying, for my own soul and for our church, that this Advent would be the greatest Advent ever. And I’m not exactly sure how that happens, but I think it has to start with us knowing that we’re waiting in a land of deep darkness.
And this land of deep darkness is also a land of ashes.
Darkness and ashes go together in the Bible. Isaiah and Job both use the language of darkness and ashes to talk about lowliness and a sense of despair. Isaiah tells us that a sign of humiliation is when one spreads ashes beneath them. Job, in his suffering, sat in ashes. He said he had become like ashes — which meant that he was undone. He felt like he was over. He felt doomed and out of luck, and he was just stuck with a sense of dread (see Isaiah 9:6; Job 10:21–22; Job 2:8, 30:19).
That’s what darkness and ashes can do to you. You can’t see beyond where you are. Everything kind of closes in around you. What once was is no longer, but you’ve still got the memory. What might have been did not come to be, but you’ve still got this unfulfilled dream. And this shouldn’t make you cynical — we should never be cynical — but there is a kind of heavy dose of realism that recognizes this world is broken, and superficial solutions do not work.
That’s the world we live in. John Bunyan called this world the City of Destruction. It’s the land of darkness and ashes.
And I need to say all this to you this morning because I know that on your radio and in the places you shop, you’re hearing “It’s the most wonderful time of the year!” and “holly jolly rockin’ around the Christmas tree” — and look, that’s great, I love it, we’re gonna get there — but first, we’re in a season of waiting, and we need to know that we’re waiting in a land of darkness and ashes. That’s vital to the real meaning of this whole thing.
And this morning I want to show you that in Hebrews Chapter 2. We find three truths here that we need to remember this Advent:
Current Reality
Obvious Predicament
Active Hope
Father in heaven, we ask that now you would do what only you can do, by the power of your Spirit. Speak to our hearts and accomplish your will, in Jesus’s name. Amen.
1) Current Reality
Let’s start in verse 5. Everybody take a look at verse 5:
“For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.”
There’s a couple of things to quickly note here …
Over Angels
First is the angels … The writer mentions angels because that’s been a big part of Chapter 1. Remember the writer starts the Book of Hebrews by showing us the supremacy of Jesus. He gives us ten glorious facts about Jesus, and the last one is that Jesus is superior to the angels, and from Chapter 1, verse 4 all the way through the end of the chapter, he backs up that claim with seven different passages from the Old Testament.
He uses the Old Testament to emphasize the point that Jesus is greater than the angels, and so in Chapter 2, verse 5, when he says, “It was not to angels that God subjected the world to come” what’s implied here is that God subjected the world to come to Jesus.
Basically the writer is resuming his exposition from Chapter 1. He took a little break in Chapter 2, verses 1–4 to warn us not to neglect our great salvation, but now he is back to stressing the superiority of Jesus, and what he says here in verse 5 is right in line with Chapter 1, verse 13. Look at that for a second. Chapter 1, verse 13.
“And to which of the angels has he [God] ever said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
The point here is that God didn’t say that to angels, he said that to Jesus. God the Father told Jesus to “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet” — and enemies being your footstool is another way to say they’re subjected to you — right? See how that fits together? If they’re your footstool it means you are higher than them.
So in Chapter 2, verse 5, the writer is repeating that same idea in the same construction we’ve seen in Chapter 1: “Not angels, but Jesus.” Jesus is greater than the angels, and the reason he’s greater is because he sits at the top. Jesus reigns over everything. The writer is still showing us the supremacy of Jesus.
The World to Come
Now the second thing to notice in verse 5 is that phrase “the world to come.” Y’all see that in verse 5? Literally, it’s “the world that is coming.” The future world.
So God did not subject the future world to angels, he subjected the future world to Jesus, and when it comes to this future world, look what the writer says: It’s the end of verse 5. He says,
“… the world to come, of which we are speaking.”
Now did y’all know that in Chapter 1 the writer has been speaking about the future world? Did we pick that up? What has the writer said in Chapter 1 that sounds like the world to come?
It’s the fact that Jesus reigns. Jesus has been raised from the dead and exalted, and that’s the hallmark of the world to come. It’s that Jesus is the Davidic King and he is seated on his heavenly throne, and the future world is subjected to him.
Because the writer has been talking about the reign of Jesus, that’s why he can say he’s been talking about the world to come.
Psalm 8 Excursion
And on that point, the writer says verse 6: “It has been testified somewhere…” and then he quotes from Psalm 8,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?”
And there’s a long debate on exactly what the writer of Hebrews is doing with this quote. So I want to take a little excursion here for a minute and talk about this, and it’s gonna get a little complex, so look at your neighbor and say Get ready.
When we looked at this passage earlier this year, Pastor Kenny (I miss that guy) he said that the question is on whether the writer of Hebrews is thinking about humans in general or is he thinking about the Messiah in particular … and Kenny said the answer is Yes. And I think that’s right.
In other words, I think both humanity in general and Jesus in particular are in view here, but I wanna say that humanity is in the background, and Jesus is in the foreground. This has to do with a biblical-theological theme in Scripture that Jesus is the Last Adam.
Just like the first Adam represented all humanity in old creation, Jesus is the Last Adam and he represents all of redeemed humanity in the new creation. And as our representative, it means there are several things said of Jesus that are also said of his redeemed humanity.
One amazing place we see this is in the Book of Daniel Chapter 7, verses 13–14. Daniel has a vision, “And behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man…” And the son of man came to the Ancient of Days and to him, to this son of man, is given dominion and glory and a kingdom — all supremacy. Daniel is clearly talking about the Messiah, the Son of man, but then a few verses later he says that the saints of the Most High will have dominion and glory and kingdom (see 7:18). So which is it? Who has dominion? The Son of man or the saints? The answer is Yes, because the Son of man, the Last Adam, is the representative of the saints, and we inherit his dominion with him.
And this same theology shows up in the very last chapter of the Bible. In the Book of Revelation, which is all about the glory of Jesus, listen to John’s vision in Revelation 22, verse 3.
“3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”
So the servants of the Lamb, the saints of the Most High, redeemed humanity — they will reign forever. That’s us. Did you know that? The point is that as Jesus reigns, Jesus our representative, the Last Adam, as he reigns, we reign with him.
That’s a biblical-theological theme, and that’s what’s going on here with Psalm 8. There’s the Son of Man and redeemed humanity, there’s Christ and Christians — and both are in view, but I see Jesus as still in the foreground here like he’s been in Chapter 1.
And the big reason is because I think the writer of Hebrews understands Psalm 8 in its context to be about the Messiah (and that’s for about five amazing reasons I can’t get into now), but why it matters is because I think the writer is applying Psalm 8 to Jesus right away in verse 6 … now I’m not 100% sure that’s what the writer is trying to do, but I’m like 93% sure, so I need you to work with me.
Okay, look at your neighbor and say We made it.
Now look at verse 6.
In verse 6, see those little quote marks? There’s where he’s quoting Psalm 8, which is addressed to God, and he says:
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7 You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now from this point onward, the writer is just gonna break this down for us. First he highlights what is meant by “subjection.” He explains:
“Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.”
Total control. That’s what he’s saying. And the foreground here is that God the Father has given Jesus total control. That’s what it means to be the King who reigns over the future world. Jesus himself said: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” We repeat that every Sunday at our commission and we believe it. It’s true. Right now, really and truly, Jesus reigns.
Why We Exist
That’s why this church exists. Some of y’all know this story. I tell it in the Foyer, that in the early years, anytime I’d meet with someone to talk about church planting, I tried to start every conversation by saying: “First off, Jesus reigns. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth, and he doesn’t need us.”
And that’s still true. We should never forget that. Our church — with our mission to go deep as disciples and to send out droves of disciples — that’s not a “have to,” that’s a “get to.” Because Jesus doesn’t need us. We only get to be part of what he’s doing because he chooses to work with us. All of our ministry is a “get to” when we understand that Jesus is the one who reigns.
And he reigns because that’s what it means to be King. That’s what it means to be Lord and to have all authority. And Jesus has that authority right now. This is current reality. Jesus reigns.
Now here’s the next thing to see, in the last sentence of verse 8. This is our second point. Obvious Predicament.
2) Obvious Predicament
Look at the last sentence of verse 8:
“At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.”
That means there’s a problem here. There’s an obvious predicament —
The writer has just told us that Jesus reigns over everything. God the Father has put the future world in subjection to him. Jesus has total control — but just look around for a minute … At present, if we open our eyes to what’s going on, it sure doesn’t look like everything is in subjection to Jesus.
And that’s been the case for a long time … like a couple thousand years. And I love how the old poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow captures this. (Who lives in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis? All right, this is your guy.) His poem “Christmas Bells” has been put to music and it’s a great song, but Longfellow wrote the poem in 1863, during the Civil War, which was a horrible time, his family suffered greatly. He starts the poem,
I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!
But then later he says,
And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”
We get that tension: there’s the current reality that Jesus reigns and the obvious predicament that a lot of people over whom Jesus reigns hate him and they live in rebellion against him.
One commentator says that there are two underlying issues in this passage:
If Jesus is the Son, as expounded in Chapter 1, why is his rule not complete and obvious to all?
How does Jesus’s humiliation as the man who suffers and dies not make him inferior to angels?
Both of these issues have to do with glory and suffering. If Jesus reigns, why is there still suffering and evil in this world? If Jesus is the one who reigns, why did he experience suffering and evil himself?
The question is: if Jesus truly reigns, why are we still dealing with darkness and ashes?
This has to be one of the most important questions for Christians to figure out.
Hi, Meet Inaugurated Eschatology
And the key here is understanding that we, right now, are living in between two worlds. There is this present world (old creation under Adam), and there is the future world (new creation under Christ).
And although right now we’re living in the present world (old creation), the future world — through the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of Jesus — the future world (new creation) has been inaugurated here. Jesus has initiated, or introduced, the future world into this old world. The theological word for that is inaugurated eschatology.
Any of y’all like the show The Office? There’s this one episode, Season 8, when Dwight throws a garden party (Season 8, Episode 4). In preparing for this garden party at Schrute Farms, he reads a book about garden party etiquette and he works really hard to make this a proper party. And so he stands at the entrance of the party, dressed in a tuxedo and a top hat, and when each guest arrives, he announces their names to introduce them.
He had read that it’s a way to honor your guests. The louder and more formal you shout their names, the more you honor them.
And so when Jim and Pam arrive with their daughter, Cece, Dwight shouts: “James, Pamela, and Peepee Halpert!” (and the joke is that he shouts the wrong name).
But what’s the connection to the resurrection of Jesus?
It’s that when Jesus was raised from the dead, that was like God the Father shouting Jesus’s name. He formally introduced Jesus to this present world, saying “Here is the Son of God! Here is the Lord of all! Here is the King of Kings who reigns over everything!” … except that Jesus, rather than staying here and reigning in this present world, he ascended to his heavenly throne where he reigns over the future world that is coming.
Still Waiting
So this present world is not the same because the future world has been introduced, and the future world is not fully here, because it’s only been introduced — so see, we live in between two worlds.
Jesus reigns over the future world that is coming, but right now, in this world, his future-world reign is manifest spiritually. So remember in the Gospels all the parables Jesus told about the kingdom of God. There’s a hiddenness to it. Like a mustard seed, it’s small for now, but it won’t always be.
For now, the reign of Jesus means he sends his Spirit and the good news of his reign, which is being announced and believed all over the world … as Christians we are a people who have been changed by Jesus spiritually (we’re not perfect yet, he’s still working on us, these bodies are mortal) but happy surrender to the reign of Jesus is active in us. We’ve been born again spiritually as part of that future world, but the full consummation of that future world is still waiting for Jesus’s physical return.
We’re still waiting for his final physical entrance, his Second and Last Advent … which we should remember at Advent. We’re still waiting …
And this waiting is in a land of darkness and ashes. That’s obvious.
And that brings us to our third and final truth to see here.
#1 is current reality (Jesus reigns); #2 is obvious predicament (we’re still waiting for the consummation of his reign) … and now finally, #3 … active hope.
3) Active Hope
Verse 9,
“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.”
The writer here affirms again what he’s been saying this whole time, that Jesus reigns. Jesus is the Son of Man who has been crowned with glory and honor. Although we see a land of darkness and ashes, we know what’s true about Jesus. We know that by his resurrection God has crowned him, enthroned him, as King over all. That’s no new information to what the writer has been saying in Chapter 1, but what is new here is the application from Psalm 8: Jesus is “him who for a little while was made lower than the angels” and then that “because of the suffering of death” Jesus was crowned with glory and honor.
This means that now the writer is not just stating the fact that Jesus reigns, but he’s telling us how Jesus came to reign.
And it’s that his reign came through suffering.
It’s that Jesus reigns as him “who for a little while was made lower than the angels.”
That’s referring to Jesus’s first Advent. It means that Jesus, who is superior to angels, for a little while, for a time within redemptive history, Jesus humbled himself and stepped into this present world to be lower than angels. “Mild he lays his glory by.” He became human like us, here in this world, and he subjected himself to human suffering. Jesus experienced the darkness and ashes of this land.
Y’all know that we as humans love stories, and we especially love a good underdog story, what’s called the ‘Rags to Riches’ plot. It’s ancient storyline. And it can at least be traced back to an old Norwegian fairytale called “Askeladden.” You’ve probably heard this story before. It’s about a son who is the runt of his family, he’s always overlooked, he gets the worst chores, but then later, against great odds, he becomes a glorious hero-king. His name “Askeladden” means “Ash Boy” because he was given the job of working in the kitchen, down at the bottom of the castle, where there were no windows. It was dark and he had to scrub dishes and clean the ashes of the hearth. It was dirty, lowly work.
We know this story as Cinder-ella (“Cinder” as in a fire-cinder, like ashes). If you can remember, Cinderella’s job was down in the kitchen where it was dark, she scrubbed pots and pans, and swept ashes. It was dirty work. That’s the setting of this great fairytale, darkness and ashes. But of course we know what comes. There’s a transformation, there’s an ascension, and the rest is happily ever after.
And the reason we love that story is because it echoes a truer and greater story. When Jesus, for a little while was made lower than the angels, he came here to experience darkness and ashes to the fullest extent. He took the lowest of lowly jobs, suffering to the point of death, even death on a cross. And that wasn’t accident. That was not a wrench thrown into God’s plan. But it was actually through his suffering, because of his suffering, that God has highly exalted him. God has raised him and enthroned him as the reigning king — He is not dead nor doth he sleep! — And he understands the darkness and ashes, because he’s been here. That’s our active hope.
It means we wait in a land of darkness and ashes, but we don’t have to fret over it. We don’t like it, that’s okay, but we don’t fret over it, because we know darkness and ashes is not the end of the story. Jesus is reigning over the world to come, and now we wait for the consummation of that world … when we, as his brothers and sisters, as ourselves Ash-boys and Cinderellas, will reign with him. More on that next week.
But for today, we come now to this Table.
The Table
And we come to this Table with a simple prayer: “Come, Lord Jesus.”
What would make this the greatest Advent ever is if Jesus returned. We should pray for that and hope in that, even at this Table this morning.
