BIBLE TEACHINGS MADE PLAIN, part 8 – WHAT IS MAN?

BIBLE TEACHINGS MADE PLAIN, part 8

WHAT IS MAN?

From the previous lessons about heavenly beings, God – the heavenly trio- and angels, in this lesson we turn to the earthly. Here we find man –male/female- man in biblical terms includes both male and female

In Psalm 8:4 (read all quoted scripture passages) we find the question What is man that Thou art mindful of him? Or in a modern translation: What is man that you remember him? Or what is man that you think about him? Yes it is good to know that we are on God’s mind and that He remembers us. We will learn that we are the product of His creation so He has an invested interest in us.

In this lesson we will deal with three basic questions of life:
Where do we come from?
Why are we here on earth?
What is our destiny?

Regarding the first question, again we have to turn to the beginning as we did in other lessons. In the beginning we have found God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and also the angels. In that same beginning we also find the origin of man. Psalm 139:14 refers or reminds us of that beginning we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Fearful means in this context “awesome’ and wonderful explains itself because even medical science is amazed how wonderful we are made and how everything fits and is needed. We may wonder what the Psalmist would have written if he would have had the medical scientific knowledge of our day. It is even more amazing if we realise that we are dust, because God made us from the dust of the earth. Psalms 103:14. We have been made by God gives the idea that God fashioned us. He did not speak and there was man, but He did something.

The apostle Paul when he was facing the wise men of Athens reminded them of what God had done and that we are made by God, the whole human race out of one blood,
read the story in Acts 17:22-28.
Ps.103:14 takes us to the beginning which we find in Gen. 1:26, 27; 2:7, 18-23.
There are a few things we notice from these scripture passages:
We are the final crown of God’s creation week of six days. Not by way of evolution or long periods of time, just in six days and the last day man was made or created. As Bible believers this is what we accept by faith. The opposite is evolution which is a theory and also must be accepted by faith. Evolution has no hard rock evidence for their belief system or theory. Darwin who gave the modern world his view of evolution was seriously troubled with the human eye. Like a modern camera everything is needed at once in order to give it the right picture, by way of evolution this could not have happened. The Bible gives us the truth about what an intelligent God, Creator, did and how awesome and wonderfully we are made in every aspect of our human being.

Next we learn from Genesis 1 that we have been made after God’s image. What does that mean, how can we understand this in a reasonable manner?
We learn from Gen.2:27 that God made male and female, two genders Jesus believed it and taught it to the people of His day, read Matth. 19:4; Mark 10:6. Jesus believed in creation, so it is not foolish to believe the same what Jesus believed. Into God’s image, we can safely accept that outwardly and inwardly we resemble the Creator. But it does not mean we are equal with God, we are even made a little lower than angels. Ps.8:5, we are not God and we are not angels.
God is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent but we are not. Jesus came to earth to reveal to us what God is like. When Philip asked the question about the Father Jesus answered, he that has seen me has seen the Father, John.14:9 Jesus was the express image of God,Hebr.1:3, or the reality of God (literal Greek).People have tried to literalise the image of God and made images of wood or stone and then prayed to them. This is plain idolatry and clearly forbidden by God. Nobody has ever seen God and thus we cannot make an image of God. You can read about this in Isa.44 and how foolish this, read verses 9-11.
We have been given certain characteristics of God, for instance “God is Love” 1John 4:8 and we are asked to love God John 14:15; 15:12 and Matth.22:37-39 even to love our enemies, Matth.5:44 It would be foolish to ask this from us if we were not able to love. God even loved us while we were yet sinners and enemies, Rom.5:8, 10.

The creation story shows us the intelligence of God, man also has been endowed with intelligence if we see what man can do. Read Dan.4:30. Nebuchadnezzar boasted upon his intelligence and what he had accomplished not realising that God had given him the intelligence to do so. That’s where we make the mistake to boast that it is all from us not from God given to us. Jer.9:23, 24

We also have the possibility to choose from a free will, that is another characteristic of God. God in Himself is a free agent not bound by anything; He is self existent and totally independent. He is the Great “I AM”, Exod.3:14 We are not self existent in that respect but we are free agents, able to make choices and as such being challenged to make the right choice. Joshua 24:15 and Deut.30:19 Again it would be foolish to ask from us to make a choice if we were not able to do so.

Thus we conclude our origin is from God and His creation, not evolution which has no design or any intelligence behind it Remember again what Paul spoke in Athens, Acts 17:24

Now the next question, why are we here on earth or why have we been made? According to evolution we are part of a natural cycle of life. Born, live and die
With no intelligent answer to the question why are we here. The Bible has a different view, more reasonable and intelligent. We are not born to die, but born, created or made to live and that for ever and ever but we have to make that choice and we are warned not to make the wrong choice or have the wrong attitude towards our Maker who is God. Read Deut.8:11-17 and Jer.9:23. In what we are, we have to recognise God. Selfishness is not a part of God’s character, He is unselfish. God gives first and then asks something. Again let’s go to the beginning.

When Adam and Eve saw the light of day after there creation, they saw a beautiful well prepared Garden of Eden to live in and work in, God’s gift to them. They were even told what they could eat and also what they should not touch to eat, that one tree, Gen.2:16, 17. They had plenty to eat from, but not from that one tree. It was over to them what to choose and accept the consequences. In a following lesson we will go deeper into this point.

We are challenged to use our power to choose to obey God, 1Sam.12:15;(if you will not, means if you choose not), and it is better to obey than to make a sacrifice, 1Sam.15:19 and also we should obey God and not men if men ask something against the will of God, Acts.5:29. We are also asked to fear God, come before Him in due respect for His greatness and majesty, to give Glory to God by living a clean and obedient life before Him and worship Him and not be attached in a dedication or type of worship which is not in harmony with God, Read Rev.14:6, 7. Jesus came to show us how, John 17:4, 6 He did not take glory to Himself. God gives, and He gave first before He asked something from us. First the giving of a prepared garden of Eden then the challenge to obey Him. When Israel, was in bondage in Egypt, God delivered them first before He presented to them the Ten Commandments for obedience, read Exod.20:1, 2 He delivered first and then asked for obedience. In the NT John 3:16 God gave us Jesus, now He asks from us to accept this gift of Jesus and follow Him. Nowhere in OT or in NT it is righteousness by human works in order to get to heaven, it is righteousness by faith in what God has done for us and then follows a life of obedience to God. In following lessons we will discuss this deeper.

We may conclude that we are here on earth and made by God for His honour and glory not for human selfish purposes. Selfishness has no place in the Kingdom of God because God Himself is not like that and such is not His image

Now we come to the third and last question, what is man’s destiny? We have learned so far where we come from; our origin is from a living and loving God who created us to give glory to Him and to worship Him. Would that be for a certain time and then die to be followed by another generation? No certainly not. The creation record tells us that we were made to live not to die, but it was conditional. Man did not receive inherit life of itself, not immortal by creation. Let’s review the process of creation:
A. God formed us, made us out of dust Gen.2:7 or clay Job 33:4 and remember Ps.139:14 in a most awesome and wonderful manner.
B. the next step was that God breathed into the nostrils the breath of life of God Gen.2:7
C. what came from it is called a living soul.Gen.2:7; Job 33:4.Notice very carefully man was not given a soul but man became a living soul. Dust (Clay) plus the breath of God makes a human being, a living soul. In death the reverse takes place, human being minus breath is dust again. The breath of God which He gave to us in the beginning is not a living intelligent independent object, read Eccl.12:7(spirit is breath) Read also Eze.18:4, 20, 24, 26 the soul that sins shall die. So the soul has the possibility to die, is not immortal in itself. It is the breath of God which returns to God when we die, not an intelligent independent type what people call soul, this is unbiblical. For that reason God asked from Adam and Eve obedience not to eat from the forbidden tree otherwise they would die. Because they were a living soul which could die and most unfortunately they did choose to eat and did die, this we will discuss later.

Let’s repeat:
1 Where do we come from? From God who made/created us
2 Why are we here, to give glory to God, to worship and obey Him for what He has done for us.
3. What is our destiny, to live for ever and ever, and not die.

Commitment: Dear reader are you willing to make a commitment to God the Creator, to accept God as the One who made you and be committed to serve God in true worship and glory to Him?