Daily Devotional

December 4th 2025

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THURSDAY

It says in Scripture, “What is man and woman that You bother with them; why take a second look their way? You made them not quite as high as angels, bright with Eden’s dawn light; then You put them in charge of Your entire handcrafted world.” When God put them in charge of everything, nothing was excluded. But we don’t see it yet, don’t see everything under human jurisdiction. What we do see is Jesus, made “not quite as high as angels,” and then, through the experience of death, crowned so much higher than any angel, with a glory “bright with Eden’s dawn light.” In that death, by God’s grace, he fully experienced death in every person’s place.—Hebrews 2:6-9 (MSG)

By quoting Psalm 8, the writer affirms the authority God granted to us. But human authority was derived authority. We were to be subject to the God who indwells us, the means by which the invisible God became visible to His creation. As long as we submitted to the dominion of God within us, we would exercise dominion over God’s creation. But the writer describes our problem: “But we don’t see it yet, don’t see everything under human jurisdiction.”
This is the whole story of human history in a nutshell. Humanity attempts to exercise its dominion but can no longer do so. When we try to accomplish this now, we create a highly explosive and dangerous situation. Our ability to exercise dominion is no longer there because we have not accepted the dominion of God. The history of humanity is one of continually precipitating crisis by attempts to exercise dominion (Romans 8:20).
Our hope is that we fix our focus on Jesus. With the eye of faith, we see Jesus already crowned and reigning over the universe, fulfilling our lost destiny. Jesus alone has broken through the barrier that keeps us from it.
That barrier is death! Death is more than the cessation of physical life. Death means uselessness, waste, futility. In that sense, death pervades all of life. Boredom is death; barrenness is death; frustration and depression of spirit, anxiety, worry, fear, despair and defeat, along with all disease—all these are incipient death. Life apart from Jesus is simply that—death!
But Jesus broke through the barrier, becoming “lower than the angels” to experience death—not only death on the cross, but also that incipient death that marks humanity. “He fully experienced death in every person’s place,” and we find that He has removed the thing that gives death its sting.

PRAYER: Lord, we thank You that Advent reminds us that, in Jesus’ coming, we have hope to fulfill the destiny You intended for us. Thank You that Jesus fully experienced death in our place, so that we might experience life to the full. Bless us today, as we go. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN!

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