“He rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm….What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him:” Matthew 8:26-27
IN ORDER TO ANSWER THE DISCIPLES’ QUESTION, THE FIRST QUESTION WE NEED TO ASK IS “WHAT IS MAN.” BOTH JOB AND KING DAVID ASKED THIS QUESTION.
JOB, IN HIS GREAT SUFFERING CRIES OUT TO GOD ASKING HIM, “WHAT IS MANKIND THAT YOU MAKE SO MUCH OF THEM, AND THAT YOU PAY ATTENTION TO THEM? AND THAT YOU VISIT THEM EVERY MORNING, AND TRY THEM EVERY MOMENT? WILL YOU NEVER LOOK AWAY FROM ME, WILL YOU NOT LET ME ALONE LONG ENOUGH TO SWALLOW MY SPITTLE? IF I HAVE SINNED, WHAT HAVE I DONE TO YOU, O WATCHER OF MEN? WHY HAVE YOU SET ME AS YOUR TARGET? HAVE I BECOME A BURDEN TO YOU? AND WHY DO YOU NOT PARDON MY TRANSGRESSION, AND TAKE AWAY MY INIQUITY? Job7:17-21
LITTLE DID JOB KNOW HOW MUCH GOD THOUGHT OF HIM, HOW GOD ACTUALLY BRAGGED TO SATAN ABOUT JOB. IN JOB, GOD SAW SOMETHING OF HIS OWN SON TO BE BORN INTO THE HUMAN RACE, THROUGH WHOM HE WOULD DO EXACTLY WHAT JOB CRIES OUT FOR, TO PARDON HIS TRANSGRESSION AND TAKE AWAY HIS INIQUITY. EVENTUALLY, GOD GIVES JOB A VISION OF HIMSELF, AND JOB CAN SAY, “I HAD HEARD OF YOU BY THE HEARING OF THE EAR, BUT NOW MY EYE HAS SEEN YOU.” Job 42:5 THIS IS WHAT WE NEED, TO SEE GOD, BEFORE WE CAN KNOW THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION “WHAT IS MAN.”
KING DAVID ASKS THE SAME QUESTION IN A DIFFERENT WAY AND IN MUCH DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES. WHEN HE WROTE PSALM 8, HE WAS MARVELING IN GOD’S CREATED UNIVERSE AND IN MAN’S EXALTATION. “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.” Psalm 8:3-6
BUT WHETHER IT IS IN SUFFERING OR JOY, THE QUESTION IS THE SAME. WHAT IS MAN? IT IS SO VITAL THAT WE KNOW AND UNDERSTAND WHAT WE REALLY ARE TO GOD. OUR ANCIENT ENEMY, THAT FALLEN ANGEL SATAN, WOULD HAVE US BELIEVE THAT WE ARE NOT WORTH MUCH. BUT THE WORD OF GOD DOES NOT SAY THAT. ONLY MANKIND WAS MADE TO EXPRESS WHAT GOD IS. IT IS THROUGH MAN THAT GOD IS MAKING HIMSELF KNOWN TO HIS CREATED UNIVERSE. MAN AND WOMAN ARE THE CROWN OF GOD’S CREATION.
IN GENESIS ONE, IT IS EMPHASIZED THAT EACH CREATURE WAS MADE ACCORDING TO ITS KIND. BUT THEN GOD SAID, “LET US MAKE HUMANKIND IN OUR IMAGE, AFTER OUR LIKENESS, SO THEY MAY RULE OVER THE FISH OF THE SEA AND THE BIRDS OF THE AIR, OVER THE CATTLE, AND OVER ALL THE EARTH, AND OVER ALL THE CREATURES THAT MOVE ON THE EARTH” Genesis 1:26
IT WAS ONLY AFTER MAN WAS MADE THAT GOD RESTED. GOD HAD DONE ALL THAT HE COULD THROUGH CREATION. HIS WORK FROM THEN ON MUST BE OF A DIFFERENT NATURE. IT MUST GO FAR BEYOND CREATION. IN ORDER FOR GOD TO COMPLETE HIS WORK IN MAKING MAN IN HIS OWN IMAGE AND LIKENESS, HE MUST GIVE HIS OWN LIFE TO HUMANITY, WHICH HE DID THROUGH INCARNATION BY UNITING HIS LIFE WITH THE HUMAN RACE, BRINGING FORTH HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON.
AFTER GOD CREATED MAN, HIS WORK IS THROUGH MAN. JESUS SAID, “MY FATHER IS WORKING UNTIL NOW, AND I TOO AM WORKING. John 5:17 GOD’S REST IS IN HIS SON, THE SON OF MAN.
“HE CAUSED THE STORM TO BE STILL, SO THAT THE WAVES OF THE SEA WERE HUSHED. THEN THEY WERE GLAD BECAUSE THEY WERE QUIET, SO HE GUIDED THEM TO THEIR DESIRED HAVEN. LET THEM GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD FOR HIS LOVINGKINDNESS, AND FOR HIS WONDERS TO THE SONS OF MEN!” Psalm 107:29-31 WHEN JESUS STILLED THE STORM, WE SEE A TRUE MAN DOING WHAT MAN WAS MEANT TO DO, TO BE RULER OVER ALL NATURE.
SOME MIGHT SAY – BUT JESUS WAS A MAN, HOW COULD HE BE GOD? BECAUSE WHEN GOD CREATED MAN, HE DESIGNED MAN TO BE ABLE TO EXPRESS ALL THAT GOD IS. WHEN GOD CREATED ADAM, HE DID SO WITH THE INTENTION OF BECOMING WHAT HE WAS CAUSING TO BE.
WHEN GOD MADE ADAM, HE BREATHED INTO HIS NOSTRILS THE BREATH OF LIFE AND ADAM BECAME A LIVING SOUL. Genesis 2:7 THAT WAS JUST THE BEGINNING. ADAM WALKED AND TALKED WITH GOD IN THE GARDEN, BUT THE RELATIONSHIP WAS STILL ON A PRIMITIVE LEVEL. GOD WAS SEEKING MUCH MORE IN HIS MAN AND WOMAN. THE WHOLE STORY OF WHAT HAPPENED IN THAT GARDEN REVEALS THAT THE FIRST ADAM, AS ROMANS 3:23 SAYS, FALLS SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD. AS DESCENDANTS OF THE FIRST ADAM, WE ALL SHARE IN HIS SHORTCOMINGS. EVEN THE BEST THAT WE CAN DO, IN OUR NATURAL STATE, FALLS SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.
THEN IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME, GOD WENT FAR BEYOND CREATION, WHICH PSALM 8 CALLS THE WORK OF HIS FINGERS, AND GOD BECAME WHAT HE HAD CAUSED TO BECOME. THROUGH THE CONCEPTION AND BIRTH OF JESUS, GOD BEGAT HIS OWN KIND. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT JUST AS WE HAVE INHERITED THE FAILURES OF THE FIRST ADAM, WE CAN NOW INHERIT THE ETERNAL LIFE OF THE SECOND ADAM.
“FOR SINCE BY A MAN CAME DEATH, BY A MAN ALSO CAME THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. FOR AS IN ADAM ALL DIE, SO ALSO IN CHRIST ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE.” 1 Corinthians 15:21-22
AS A CHILD, ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS WAS PINOCCHIO. GEPPETTO MADE A PUPPET OUT OF WOOD. THE BOOK FOLLOWS THE ANTICS OF GEPPETTO’S PUPPET PINOCCHIO. JIMINY CRICKET WAS PINOCCHIO’S CONSCIENCE. THE ACCOUNT OF PINOCCHIO’S NOSE GROWING LONGER EVERY TIME HE TOLD A LIE MADE SUCH AN IMPRESSION ON ME. I THOUGHT HOW WILL PINOCCHIO’S NOSE EVER BE NORMAL AGAIN. BUT IN THE END PINOCCHIO BECOMES A REAL BOY! I STILL CAN SEE THE PICTURE OF A SMILING PINOCCHIO, NO LONGER JUST A WOODEN PUPPET BUT A REAL HUMAN BOY.
WHAT IS MAN? LOOK AT JESUS. THERE IS MAN AS GOD INTENDED MAN TO BE. GOD TELLS US, “THIS IS MY BELOVED SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED. LISTEN TO HIM.” AND JESUS TELLS US, “THIS IS THE WILL OF HIM WHO SENT ME, THAT EVERYONE WHO SEES THE SON AND BELIEVES IN HIM MAY HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE; AND I WILL RAISE HIM UP AT THE LAST DAY.” John 6:40
Rosemary E. Hyslop April 7, 2018