Psalms 8:4-6
⁴What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? ⁵Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! ⁶You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet
What is man?
You cannot answer that question with one word.
Let’s consider what the Bible has to say about this:
Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Yet man is not just a collection of atoms.
Genesis 2:7
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
This is the beginning.
And what about the end?
Ecclesiastes 12:7
Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
But let’s return to the beginning:
The creation
God created man in his image
Genesis 1:26-27
²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Man was to rule over the rest of creation
Genesis 1:28-31
²⁸God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
³¹God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
Genesis 2:15-17
¹⁵Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.
¹⁶The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; ¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”
God created man to be his friend
Abraham and his relationship with God
Genesis 18:17-19
¹⁷The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸since Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed?
¹⁹For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”
James 2:23
And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
Moses, the friend of God
Exodus 33:11,18-20
¹¹Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. Moses Intercedes
¹⁸Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”
¹⁹And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.”
²⁰But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
Still, something went wrong. What?
Man in revolt
From the very beginning, a spirit of rebellion reveals itself
Man questions God’s Word
Genesis 3:1-4
¹Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?”
²The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'”
⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
He thinks he can take God’s place
Genesis 3:5-7
⁵For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Because of his disobedience, man is alienated from God
Genesis 3:22-23
²²Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”- ²³therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.
Paul describes the result of it
Romans 1:18-25
¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, ¹⁹because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
²⁰For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
²¹For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
²Professing to be wise, they became fools, ²³and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
²⁴Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
²⁵For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Man is a unique creation
Despite everything, man remains a unique creation of God.
This is what the psalmist says of him:
Psalms 8:6-9
⁶You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, ⁷all sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, ⁸the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
⁹O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!
Man is not just a body.
He was created to live in communion with, and in dependence of God
Matthew 4:4
⁴Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Jesus said:
Matthew 6:24-25,32-33
²⁴No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
²⁵For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
³²For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
³³But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Paul said:
Acts 17:24-27
²⁴The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; ²⁵nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; ²⁶and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, ²⁷that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us
The way to recovery
The amazing thing is that God refuses to leave him alone.
The Bible is the very story of God’s constant love for sinful man.
Such is this love that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ:
John 3:16-17
¹⁶For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
1 John 4:9-10
⁹By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Jesus is as man should have been.
God said:
Matthew 3:17
¹⁷And behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
In everything He was subject to God.
Luke 22:42
Not My will, but Yours be done.
John 4:34
My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.
John 8:29
He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.”
His life was an example of compassion
Mark 2:16-17
¹⁶When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, “Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?”
¹⁷And hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
His life was an example of courage
Luke 6:6-11
⁶On another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered.
⁷The scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him.
⁸But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he got up and came forward.
⁹And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?”
¹⁰After looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so; and his hand was restored.
¹¹But they themselves were filled with rage, and discussed together what they might do to Jesus.
His life was an example of forgiveness
Luke 23:33-34
³³When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
³⁴But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
His life was an example of patience
1 Peter 2:21-24
²¹For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, ²²who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; ²³and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; ²⁴and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
His life was an example of humility
Philippians 2:6-8
⁶who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.
⁸Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
But Jesus is not only an example, He is also our Savior
Mark 10:45
For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
1 John 4:14
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Like the whole world is involved in the spiritual pollution: sin
Romans 5:12,15
¹²Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned-
¹⁵But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
Likewise, the answer to this is of global significance: God’s grace
Romans 5:15-17
¹⁵But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
¹⁶The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.
¹⁷For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 2:4-6
⁴who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
⁵For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, writes:
1 Peter 3:18
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
A new life
In conclusion, what is man?
He is unique creature. Worthy of being created in God’s eyes, and then worthy to be delivered from sin
Jesus said:
John 5:24
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
John explains:
1 John 5:11-13
¹¹And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
¹²He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.
¹³These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.
Connected with the Christ, man receives a new begin.
2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Romans 6:6-7
⁶Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷for he who has died is freed from sin.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
Because of that:
Psalms 95:1-7
¹O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.
²Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.
³For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods,
⁴In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also.
⁵The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land.
⁶Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
⁷For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
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