The
Glorious Destiny unto which Men Have Been Created
By Al
Stoner
“For unto the angels hath He not put in subjection the
world to come, whereof we speak” (Heb. 2:5).
“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. 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. But we see Jesus” (Heb.
2:6-9).
The son of man that Thou visitest
him. In this
particular visitation, spoken of by David in Psalm 8, God is not merely
“stopping by” to pay men a visit, as the word is commonly used among men.
When God visits men, especially in the context of Psalm 8, He is bringing and
bestowing unspeakably good things: things pertaining to eternal salvation and
to the obtainment of eternal life. The things that God is bringing to men have
become the substance of the glad tidings of the gospel. But woe be unto
men who despise and reject that which God is bringing!
What is man? This is a question that is asked a number of
times in Scripture from different perspectives (cf. Job 7:17; 15:14; Ps. 8:4;
144:3). In Job’s day thinkers, such as Job and his three “comforters” (Job
16:2), marveled that God would take any note of men at all because of man’s
sinfulness and uncleanness (see Job 15:14-16). David, in Psalm 8, was given to
see much more than this as he called to remembrance the reason for man’s
creation as it was declared “in the beginning” in Genesis 1:26-28.
The specific reason, of course,
was that men were created to exercise dominion over God’s creation. By creating
man in His own image God had purposed to reveal more of His own Person and
Character to the heavenly onlookers: the principalities and powers in heavenly
places.
In Psalm 144:3-4, however, David
seems to have retrogressed in his reasoning more to the level of Job and his
friends. We certainly do not fault him or those of Job’s day for this, for that
former time was a time of lesser revelation. But we do fault current-day
“theologies” which have adopted a lower view, in ignorement of the Apostolic
perspective. That is inexcusable! In the earth-centered, earthbound
church of our day there is very little, if any, talk of an eternal inheritance
and dominion as a living incentive for living godly in Christ Jesus.
That which calls itself “the church” in our day, for the most part, has a form
of godliness, but denies the power given of God to live godly in this wicked
and perverse generation.
The Times of Ignorance.
The former age (prior to the entrance of the Christ into the world) was a time
of general ignorance of God with occasional glimmers of hope being given with
regard to the purpose for existence and the glorious prospect awaiting those
created in the image of God. The former ignorance is due to the fact that death
had not yet been abolished by the Lord Jesus Christ, and life and immortality
had not yet been brought to light by the gospel (cf. II Tim. 1:9-10). “And
the times of” that “ignorance God winked at; but now” He commands “all
men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30).
With regard to the purpose of
man’s creation, Paul in Hebrews 2, takes up the same consideration, expressed
aforetime by David regarding man, and announces an exceedingly bright and
gloriously optimistic destiny for the race of men! It is that redeemed
personalities have been created, and are now being prepared of God, to take
possession of a rule and dominion, not in this present evil world, but in the
world which is to come. It shall not be a rule over birds and fishes and cattle
in this world, as was at the first indicated in the Genesis account, but over
“cities” (Lk. 19:17-19) and over “many things” (Mt. 25:21-23) in the world to
come. (We heartily commend to our readers this optimistic view afforded us in
the Apostolic writings!)
This bright outlook is a
case-in-point example of that word of the Apostle where he said, “Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). Sin abounded
greatly, temporarily aborting the purpose of God for man’s dominion in this world, but this was all
part of the Divine purpose wrapped up in a mystery until the fullness of the
time should come (cf. Gal. 4:4). “Known unto God are all His works from the
beginning of the world” (Acts 15:18). And if we may so speak, the grace of God has now
much more abounded, reinstating that purpose so that it is once again on track
with redeemed men being presently groomed to be made heirs of a much greater
rulership in the world to
come. From the perspective of Hebrews 2, what a privileged
class of personalities we are to be part of the race of men (particularly those
of us that are in Christ)! All of Scripture attests to the very special regard
that God has for man who is created in His image, but how much moreso now for
those who are being “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29)?
However, if some members of our
race choose to continue in sin and to spurn “the salvation” which God has
“prepared before the face of all people” (Lk. 2:30-31), they shall certainly be
rejected of Him and they shall forfeit their own participation in the glorious
purpose for which God made man. Such ones shall be cast into outer darkness and
into everlasting torments. (The salvation of God in Christ Jesus is for the
purpose of readying men for an eternal inheritance and dominion).
And as we presently consider
those around us who have rejected the gospel and who yet are engaged in sinful
involvements, it ought to grieve us at our very hearts that such ones, if they
do not recover themselves from the snare of the Devil, shall not be partakers of
the glorious destiny for which they were made!
But We See Jesus. The
exalted Savior (Acts 2:33; 5:31; Phil. 2:9), “the Man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5), is our
guarantee that we shall also be invested with this promised dominion. By God’s
grace we shall assuredly enter into that fullness of dominion for which man was
created, as Christ is both the “Firstfruits” of the wheat harvest (I Cor. 15:23) and our
“Forerunner” (Heb. 6:20). In the present time we have been made “kings and
priests unto God” (Rev. 1:6) to be sure, but our reign is not now evident to
all (nor is it fully evident to ourselves), for we yet have the heavenly
treasure in an earthen vessel (II Cor. 4:7), and we have presently been
commissioned of God to not let sin reign in it (cf. Rom. 6:12).
In Conclusion. As we
consider the glorious prospect which God has laid up for man, created in His
likeness and now conformed to the image of His Son, let us saturate our minds
and hearts with the words of the Scripture. Let us purge our minds of such
scientifically-derogatory terms as “human,” “humanoid,” “humanistic,” and the
like. They are all of the earth, earthy. They are words that are
from beneath, and are calculated to eradicate from men’s thinking any and every
vestige of consideration for “the Creator of the ends of the earth,” “Who is
blessed for ever” (Isa. 40:28; Rom. 1:25). Let us be spiritually minded, having our minds and
hearts filled, not with “the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with
spiritual” (I Cor. 2:13).
