King of Everything

Hebrews 2:8b-9
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. 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.

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I'm having one of those, "How did I never see these verses?!?" moments.
Interpreters are mixed about verses 7-8. Is the author talking about Jesus, or about mankind in general? Personally, I think it's talking about man in general, because verse 9 sounds very clarifying as it introduces Jesus into this argument. Also, since the rest of Hebrews deals largely with Jesus' superiority to all things, especially to our earthly priesthood (and even angels), it makes sense for the author to begin with an inferior frame of reference (namely, fallen humanity).

Genesis 1:26-28 make it very clear that God created mankind to have all things created under subjection to him; this was man's responsibility from the start. Throughout the Old Testament, God still shows this was his plan. That's why he chose people to carry out his will: Noah, Abraham, Moses, David. These people were to make God's plan a reality, to rule the world in righteousness and fulfill mankind's original responsibility.

Ultimately, God fulfills his original plan through Jesus, who himself is God; but it's not cosmic cheating, because God becomes fully human. So in the end, the entire world is put under the subjection of mankind, and the king of man is divinely perfect. God's plan is accomplished, and it becomes even better, since Jesus is also God himself. What grabs my attention here is how it says in verse 8 that we don't even see everything in subjection to God's kingdom. If we specifically talk about Jesus as the king of God's kingdom, we don't even see completely everything that Jesus rules over. We see the world, but we can't see all of the world. As connected as we are today, we don't really fully see the full extent of Jesus' lordship; that's why we're continuously amazed when we hear about remote places and cultures being saved.

It also means that the spiritual realm is under Jesus' rule. In Matthew 28, before the Great Commission, Jesus says that ALL authority has been given to him, IN HEAVEN and ON EARTH (v.18). There are realms and things we can't see, and Jesus is king of it all. This helps me so much because there are so many times I find myself struggling over things like finances and whether my family or friends will be saved, things I feel I have no control over because I can't see everything...and yet Jesus is lord of it all. He's king over a whole realm I can't even see; he's just the king of everything. It doesn't matter whether I can see it or not.

Even though we can't totally comprehend and understand even a fraction of God's wisdom, the point is that we CAN see the king. The author of Hebrews here in verse 9 says that we don't see everything in subjection to God, we can and should see Jesus, and he is more than enough. We don't need to see all things, we just need to see the one who has it all under control.