Dominion Restored — But Not Yet Seen
A prophetic look at Psalm 8 and the reign of the Son of Man during the Millennium.
Hebrews 2:6–8
Hebrews 2:6–8 says, “But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet.” Then the Holy Ghost adds the key that unlocks the whole passage: “For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.” There is the Bible believer’s answer to every kingdom-now dreamer, every postmillennial optimist, every amillennial spiritualizer, every liberal world-improver, and every religious philosopher who thinks man is gradually turning the earth into the kingdom of God. The verse does not say, “Now we see all things under him.” It says the opposite. It says the dominion is promised, the subjection is certain, the Son of Man is the rightful heir, but the visible manifestation is not yet seen.
This passage reaches back to Psalm 8, and Psalm 8 reaches all the way back to Genesis. God made Adam and gave him dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the cattle, all the earth, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Man was made under God but over the earth. He was not an animal with a larger brain, not a cosmic accident with religious feelings, not a dirt clod that learned poetry. He was made in the image of God and set in delegated authority over the works of God’s hands. But Adam sinned. When Adam fell, dominion was damaged, creation was cursed, death entered, the serpent gained ground, and man became a dethroned ruler walking through a cursed kingdom. That is why the world looks like it does. The animals are not fully tame, the earth is not fully healed, the nations are not fully righteous, the devil is not yet bound, death is not yet removed, and man’s government is a cemetery with flags on it. Something was lost in Adam.
Hebrews 2 tells you that what Adam lost will be restored in Christ, but not by man’s progress, not by political reform, not by religious ecumenism, not by Rome, not by Geneva, not by Washington, not by the United Nations, not by environmental activism, not by Hebrew roots confusion, and not by a Church pretending it is Israel’s kingdom. The restoration comes through the Son of Man. Psalm 8 is not finally fulfilled in fallen mankind. It is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the last Adam, the second man, the rightful ruler, the one who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death and then crowned with glory and honour. Hebrews says all things are put under Him, but we do not yet see it in open earthly manifestation. That means the passage is prophetic. It points to the coming reign of Christ during the Millennium, when the Son of Man takes visible dominion over the earth and rules the nations with a rod of iron.
Chapter One
The question in Hebrews 2:6 is lifted from Psalm 8: “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?” That question is not modern humanism dressed in Bible words. It is not God looking down and saying, “Man is wonderful because man believes in himself.” It is David standing beneath the heavens and marveling that the God who made the moon and stars would even notice man. Psalm 8 begins, “O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” The subject is not the excellence of man; it is the excellence of the LORD. Man’s place only makes sense when God is first. Remove God, and man becomes either a beast, a machine, or a little god in his own imagination. Put God where He belongs, and man becomes a created being with a real but delegated place under divine authority.
The phrase “son of man” is especially