Why were we not given the same abilities by God to do all things just like the angels?
The short answer to this would be, “God is the Creator and in His sovereign wisdom He chose to make us (as we shall see) ‘a little lower than the angels’ to fulfill His purposes.” It is surely true that we lack (at present) the abilities of angels. One example I’ve always marveled at that illustrates this is in Daniel 9:21, “Yes, while I (Daniel) was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, BEING CAUSED TO FLY SWIFTLY, reached me about the time of the evening offering” (NKJV). Gabriel is definitely an angel (see Daniel 8:15-16 and Luke 1:19 & 26) and he was able to fly from heaven to earth (trillions of light years away!) before Daniel finished his prayer.
Let’s read Psalm 8:3-8, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For YOU HAVE MADE HIM A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, AND YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen—even the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea that pass through the paths of the seas. O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is Your name in all the earth!” As David the Psalmist considered the heavens that God had created he marveled at the thought that God would take such an interest in mankind. But David came to realize that God was (as another has said), “more interested in PEOPLE than He is in PLANETS, more interested in SOULS than He is in STARS, more interested in US than He is in the UNIVERSE.” We are indeed the “Crown of His Creation,” for in Genesis 1:26 we learn that “God created man in His own image” and then He told man, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (verse 28). This echoes the truth we saw in Psalm 8:5-6, “You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” So, though we were made “a little lower than the angels,” we were given the HIGHEST PLACE ON EARTH!
Now let’s explore an even grander (and humbling) thought. Psalm 8:5 is quoted (word for word) in Hebrews 2:7 and the writer of Hebrews goes on to say in verse 9, “But we see Jesus, WHO WAS MADE A LITTLE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS, for the suffering of death CROWNED WITH GLORY AND HONOR, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” We know that man, who was given dominion over all the earth, failed to retain that dominion. They sinned against God (see Genesis 2:16-17 & 3:6) and forfeited their place of dominion. Man (and the creation he ruled over) fell into a state of ruin and he was made subject to God’s holy judgment against sin. Yet in love for us God sent His Only Begotten Son to become a Man in order to take man’s place in judgment at the cross of Calvary. Jesus was “made a little lower than the angel for the suffering of death…that He…might taste death for everyone.” Amazing grace! Because Jesus was willing to become a man and to be “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8), God has “crowned Him with glory and honor.” What does that mean? I will quote some passages to show us what it means. “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name…He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places, FAR ABOVE ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER AND MIGHT AND DOMINION, and every name that is named” (Philippians 2:8 and Ephesians 1:20-21). God has given His Son (as a Man!), the highest place in heaven (at His right hand), and made Him to be (again, as a Man!) far above the angels. So, though He was “lower than the angels” while on earth, He is now “far above all principality and power” in heaven.
We will close with the most incredible and humbling thought the human mind can entertain. Though mankind was “made a little lower than the angels,” all BELIEVERS IN CHRIST will reign with Christ in glory (see Colossians 3:1-4) and then we will be “far above the angels.” We read in 1st Corinthians 6:3, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels?” Man initially had dominion over the earth, but here we learn that man, in association with Christ, will rule over the whole universe, including angelic beings! We will have unbelievable powers at that time, equal to or greater than the angels. We started out by mentioning the angel Gabriel’s ability to fly from heaven to earth in a matter of minutes. Believers in Christ will also have the power to fly without the aid of space ships or having to carry oxygen with them as they travel throughout the universe. I would encourage you to read John 14:2-3 along with 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 that show us when our “space travel” will begin. Is my reader looking forward to this? If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you can and should be. If you are not a believer, I would plead with you to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). If you do not trust Him as your savior, you will share the fate of the fallen angels in hell. “Then He (Jesus Christ) will say…. Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (339.1) (DO)