Lesson for the Lord’s Day
But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour, that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Hebrews 2:9
Perhaps the most popular attraction at any zoo is the primate section, the area where the monkeys, apes, and gorillas live. These creatures seem to have many similarities to humans, and people enjoy seeing the behaviour and reactions that appear to be almost human. We see these animals as similar to us, but a little lower than us on the mentality and intelligence scale. Actually, they are much lower than us, but that’s another story for another time. In the same way that we humans look at primates as subordinate to us, so too must the angels look at us as lower than themselves. How amazed must the angels have been to see their Lord and Creator step into time and onto earth, and take to Himself the form of a species lower than the angels!
Angels are spirits, and are not limited to the confines of a fleshly body, as we are. Angels have many other superiorities to humans, most of which we do not understand. They are undoubtedly vastly more intelligent and more powerful than us. And yet, it was to humanity that the Lord Jesus came, stepping below the level of angels, to reach the level of a needy human race. His incarnation is beyond our ability to understand, but we can accept the fact that He became a human being. Never at any time did He cease being God, nor could He, because God is eternal. His deity was unaffected by His becoming humanity. And yet it was as a man that He took upon Himself human flesh, that He might suffer, bleed, and die. It was in His body on the tree that He bore our sins.
Only by being made a little lower than angels could the Lord Jesus reach and save us. Today, we pause to give Him thanks for such a stoop. We don’t understand it, but how we appreciate it! -Jim MacIntosh