“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man that thou visitest him? (Psalm 8:4).
While it is fundamental to know the Godhead, it is equally fundamental that man know himself, especially as he lives before God. David ponders in Psalm 8 the nature of humanity and how it is that God is interested in sinful man among all the created things of God. The Bible truly will show a man how he really is if he will consider. The word of God is as a mirror to reveal it (cf. James 1:23-25). Consider three basic concepts concerning humanity that God wants man to know and appreciate.
1. Finite. Only God is limitless. David wrote, “Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite” (Ps. 147:5). Therefore, anything that God chose to create would be finite in nature. God through the Bible reminds mankind of human limits. “Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah” (Ps. 39:5). Jeremiah said of man, “O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps” (Jer. 10:23). Sin’s entrance into the world brought man to his lowest level. Paul wrote to the Roman brethren, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12). Man’s limits in contrast to God’s infinite being and attributes should keep humility alive.
2. Free to Choose. It was the good pleasure of God to create mankind as free moral agents. Such is an outgrowth of the great love of God. Man is not forced to obey and serve God, but he is given the opportunity to do so of his own free will. Choice is clearly indicated in the words to Adam and Eve in the garden, where it is written, “Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). Sin comes through choice as James wrote, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:13-15). The sovereignty of God is not hindered in the giving of free choice to mankind.
3. Focus of Redemption. Combining the concepts of finite beings with the capability to choose incorrectly would ultimately bring sin and its consequences into the world. God foreknowing that sin would enter into the world had the scheme of redemption purposed before the beginning of time (cf. Eph. 3:10-11). The sparing of the physical lives of Adam and Eve when they sinned meant that someone would have to die in their place that they might live. It is written in the book of Hebrews, “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man” (Heb. 2:9). Therefore, redemption from sin and the cemetery was and is the focus of the Bible. The single-minded focus of Jesus in his work is found in the words “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Redemption shows that humanity is special in the heart of God.
Jimmy Clark