What Is Man?
What Is Man?
But there is a place where someone has testified: "What is mankind that you are mindful of them, a son of man that you care for him?" (Hebrews 2:6)
By "man" I mean men and women, boys and girls.
Man has been created to have fellowship with God.
We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. (I John 1:3)
Man has been created also:
To be in the image of God.
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." (Genesis 1:26)
To govern all the works of God's hands.
What is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet. (Psalms 8:4-6)
To be a member of the Bride of the Lamb.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." (Revelation 21:9)
To be part of the eternal Temple of God.
And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:22)
To be a member of the Body of Christ.
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. (I Corinthians 12:12)
To be a son of God.
He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. (Revelation 21:7—NASB)
To be the light of the world.
"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden." (Matthew 5:14)
To be a part of the vehicle for the end-time revival.
Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. (Isaiah 60:1,2)
To be a source of eternal life and healing for the nations.
So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. (I Corinthians 15:45)
To be a member of the Royal Priesthood.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (I Peter 2:9)
To be a witness of God.
"You are my witnesses," declares the Lord, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me." (Isaiah 43:10)
To be salt.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. (Matthew 5:13)
To be an overcomer of the accuser .
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:11)
To be a governor of the nations.
To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—that one "will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery"—just as I have received authority from my Father. (Revelation 2:26,27)
To be a soldier in the army of the Lord.
The Lord thunders at the head of his army; his forces are beyond number, and mighty is the army that obeys his command. The day of the Lord is great; it is dreadful. Who can endure it? (Joel 2:11)
To be a wall of defense around the Glory of God.
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:14)
To be the revelation of God in Christ.
The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. (Revelation 3:12)
We probably can see that being "saved" involves more than lying on our sofa in our mansion in Paradise. We of the Church have been entrusted with the work of the Kingdom of God. That is our calling as saints (holy ones).
To be in the image of God. It takes a long time for the Lord to dig an individual out of the pit and then carve him or her into the image of God! It is God's will that each Christian be in the image of Christ, both inwardly and outwardly. This is possible only as we keep on receiving Christ at all times, seven days a week.
To govern all the works of God's hands. God has created man to be His Throne. Christ has been given all authority and power in heaven and upon the earth. This authority and power extends to the members of the Body of Christ, as the Head directs.
To be a member of the Bride of the Lamb. We become married to the Lamb as we live by His body and blood. We are given to eat and drink of this hidden manna every time we refuse the demands of our sinful nature and choose to do the will of Christ.
To be part of the eternal Temple of God. We must keep ourselves morally pure, because our body is the eternal house of the Spirit of God.
To be a member of the Body of Christ. To be a member of the Body of Christ is to bear the anointing of the Spirit of God. One of our principal tasks as a member of the Servant of the Lord is to bring justice to the nations of the earth.
To be a son of God. We begin as a child of God. If through Christ we manage to live in victory, we finally will be deemed a son of God. Then we will be adopted as a son of God by means of the redemption of our body.
To be the light of the world. Christ is the Light of the world, the Light that shines forth from the new Jerusalem, the Lampstand of God. As members of the Body of Christ we are an integral part of the Divine Lampstand.
To be a part of the vehicle for the end-time revival. The current age in which we live might be termed the "Church Age." The purpose of the Church Age is to call out God's elect from the people of the world. When we have matured sufficiently the Glory of God will come upon us, we will be one in the Father and the Son, and the people of the nations will perceive that it is the true God of Heaven who has sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world.
To be a source of eternal life and healing for the nations. The Throne of God is being created in us. It is God's will that the Spirit of God flow from that inner Throne and bring eternal life to the dead sea of mankind.
To be a member of the Royal Priesthood. This is the highest calling of man. The home of the Royal Priesthood is the new Jerusalem. These holy ones will govern the works of God's hands for eternity.
To be a witness of God. God creates His witnesses. When He has wrought His refining work in us we reveal the Person, will, way, and eternal purpose of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
To be salt. Those who love God and Christ and serve them diligently make the nations of the earth palatable to Them.
To be an overcomer of the accuser . The work of overcoming the accuser has begun, I believe. Consequently we see signs of Satan and his wicked hordes being cast down to the earth. They are influencing people, as we can observe from the unprecedented works of evil that are occurring.
To be a governor of the nations. It is God's will that Christ and His victorious saints govern the peoples of the earth. We govern with the rod of iron righteousness that is being formed in us as through Christ we overcome the works of Satan that continue to press against us.
To be a soldier in the army of the Lord. There is the army of saints, and then the army of angels—two armies. If we would be a soldier in the Lord's army of saints we must practice the strictest obedience to the Lord Jesus at all times. The army of angels do the fighting. The army of saints communicate the Divine judgments.
To be a wall of defense around the Glory of God. Such is the huge, beautiful wall of Jasper that prevents evil from entering the Lord and His priesthood. There was no wall around the garden in Eden. There never again will be an unwalled Paradise. That wall is being created in us as we embrace righteousness and reject and renounce all wickedness.
To be the revelation of God in Christ. God is incarnate in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now God is increasing the incarnation of Himself in the Body of Christ, the victorious saints.
Because these roles and tasks of the Kingdom can be performed only by those who are being made in the image of Christ, and are dwelling in untroubled rest in the center of the Father's will, it is my point of view that such are the only believers who are both competent and qualified to be raised to life and caught up to meet the Lord Jesus in the air when He appears.
We need to be concerned about this, because the Christian churches of our day are complacent, casual about their discipleship. Yet they are being taught that any moment now they will be caught up to Heaven to live in a mansion and do nothing of significance for eternity.
I do not believe the Bible supports their hope. If I am correct, it must be true that we are looking forward to a reformation of Christian thinking. God is too kind and loving to leave so many people in a state of delusion.
We must keep in mind that the purpose of raising people to life and catching them up to meet Jesus in the air, where He is waiting with the army of angels and the war stallions, is that He and they may descend and install the Kingdom of God, the will of God, on the earth.
It is for this dramatic intervention in the affairs of the earth that we pray: "Your Kingdom come. Your will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven."
The Tabernacle of the Congregation, set forth in the Book of Exodus portrays the person of the new world of righteousness, the individual who is competent and qualified to be raised and caught up to meet the Lord in the air and assist with the task of establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth.
He is established upon the blood of atonement, represented by the bronze Altar of Burnt Offering , which is the first furnishing encountered when entering the Courtyard.
God meets man only at the cross.
The second furnishing in the Courtyard is the bronze Laver . The Laver portrays the washing of water by the Word of God. It was constructed from the looking glasses of the women of the congregation. As we read the Bible we can see where we are dirty and need to be cleansed.
Now we enter the Tent of Meeting, the Tabernacle proper.
On our right is the Table of Showbread . The Table speaks of the body of Christ, which we must eat if we are to have the new world of righteousness formed in us.
Twice each day a lamb was sacrificed at the Altar of Burnt Offering. Its blood was poured out in the Holy Place , next to the Table of Showbread (often referred to as the Bread of the Presence).
The body and blood of Christ are fed to us throughout each day as we continue to resist sin and do what Christ desires. We overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb.
To our left is the solid-gold Lampstand . The Lampstand speaks of the witness of God, His Person, will, way, and eternal purpose in Christ. We cannot bear a witness of Christ that has an eternal impact, except as we are filled with the Spirit of God.
The two lampstands, of the eleventh chapter of the Book of Revelation, refer to Christ Himself, the one Lampstand, and the victorious saints of the churches, the second lampstand. Christ is working today with His victorious saints who will bear the final witness of the closing days of the Church Age. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant by "new and surprising things"!
Directly ahead of us, in the Holy Place, this side of the holy Veil, is the Altar of Incense . This is the next step after the Pentecostal experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
At the Altar of Incense we surrender our will to God and worship Him continually. The power of the seven thunders will never be manifest on the earth until God has saints who choose to die to their self-will.
Such is the challenge of the hour. How many of us will set aside our own life, even our ministerial life, and choose to live by the Life of the Lord Jesus?
Like the Apostle Paul we must be able to say, "It is not I who am living but Christ who is living in me."
This is a decision we must make clearly and firmly. We must ask God to make it true of us that we are living by the Life of Christ and not by our own life.
When we pray this prayer in utmost sincerity, God may permit Satan to place us in some kind of prison. "I am shut up and cannot come forth," the Psalmist cried.
Have you experienced such confinement? You may, if you ask God that you might live by the Life of Jesus. But the resurrection life we need today to overcome the unbelievable wickedness and perversity can come only as some of us are willing to forego our own plans and desires so that the Lord Jesus may live in us. Are you one such person? Am I?
Such is the Altar of Incense. We cannot proceed further toward the new world of righteousness until we learn to worship Christ and not ourselves.
Now we stand before the holy, ornate Veil . What does the Veil signify? The Veil, as also is true of the Jordan River, represents total death to the first world, our former adamic nature.
Are we ready to leave the old adamic world, casting aside all nostalgia, forgetting what is behind, pressing forward to what is ahead? If we are not willing to do this, we will have to settle for a lesser place in the Kingdom of God. We are trying to be another god in the universe.
So we make our choice and move past the Veil. The light of the Lampstand does not shine here. It is the Most Holy Place . It is lighted by the Glory of God!
Do you want to live here? Are you certain?
We are confronted with the Ark of the Covenant, crowned with the solid-gold Lid of Reconciliation .
The Ark of the Covenant, unlike the Lampstand and the lid of Reconciliation, is not solid gold. It is constructed of acacia wood, overlaid and covered within with pure gold.
The wood represents man. The gold represents Divinity.
Such is the Kingdom of God. It is God and man living and working together, we might say.
To attain to such character we must vacate the throne of our life so that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit may sit on our throne. But when God is satisfied with our obedience, we will be permitted to sit with Them on the throne of our life. So it always is the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. Both must be active if we are to fulfill God's purposes for us.
Within the personality of the new man has been established for eternity his willingness to live by every Word coming from God's mouth. This is revealed by the presence of the memorial jar of manna , which is inside the Ark.
Within our personality has been established forever that we have died to our own plans and ambitions and are alive in our ministry by the resurrection life of Christ. This is revealed in Aaron's Rod that budded .
Within our personality has been established forever the righteousness and holiness of the Lord God, as evidenced by the presence within the Ark of the eternal moral Law of God , represented by the Tables of Stone.
Such is the person of the new world of righteousness.
When such character has been formed, as Christ has come to maturity in us, the Glory of the Living God always rests upon us in the form of the Lid of Reconciliation.
The entire plan of God from the time of the rebellion of Satan has been to reconcile God's creatures to Himself. This is the work of the spiritual counterpart of the Jewish Day of Atonement. It has begun now and will continue throughout eternity, as people keep drinking of the Spirit of God, eating of the Tree of Life, and turning away from all that is not of the image of God.
Does this mean every creature eventually will be reconciled to God?
Sadly, no. There are angels and people who will not obey Christ. The Lake of Fire will not make them holy. It only will confirm their worship of themselves and of their father, Satan.
One such angel or person would destroy the eternal righteousness, love, peace, and joy of the ever-expanding Kingdom of God.
The primary law of the Kingdom of God is strict obedience to God's King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we see there is a first world, the world of Adam and Eve, the world of flesh and blood. This world is the valley of the shadow of death--which is more evident each day as the corruption and lies increase.
Then there is the second world, the new world of righteousness. Both worlds are in the Christian person when he or she is born again.
Now the battle rages. Will we permit Jesus Christ to totally drive out the old, or will we cling to it because of our unbelief.
I trust that you and I will make the right decision, because eternity is a long time!
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6,7)