Hebrews 2:6 But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that you are mindful of him? or the son of man that you visit him? We need not only a true philosophy of God but a true philosophy of man, in order to right,, thinking of the gospel. The idolater thinks man inferior to birds and beasts and creeping things, before which he prostrates himself. The materialist reckons him to be the chance product of natural forces which have evolved him, and before which he is therefore likely to pass away. The pseudoscience of the time makes him of one blood with ape and gorilla, and assigns him a common origin with the beasts. See what gigantic systems of error have developed from mistaken conceptions of the true nature and dignity of man! I. MAN AS GOD MADE HIM — 1. the Divine likeness (Genesis 1:27). Our mental and moral nature is made on the same plan as God's: the Divine in miniature. Truth, love, and purity, like the principles of mathematics, are the same in us as in Him. If it were nut so, we could not know or understand Him. But since it is so, it has been possible for Him to take on Himself our nature, and that we should be one day transformed to the perfect image of His beauty. 2. Royal supremacy (Genesis 1:28). Man was intended to be God's vicegerent and representative. King in a palace stored with all to plea-e him, monarch and sovereign of all the lower orders of creation. The sun to labour for him as a very Hercules; the moon to light his nights, or lead the waters round the earth in tides, cleansing his coasts; elements of nature to be his slaves and messengers; flowers to scent his path; fruits to please his taste; birds to sing for him; fish to feed him; beasts to toil for him and carry him. Not a cringing slave, but a king, crowned with the glory of rule, and with the honour of universal supremacy. Only a little lower than angels, because they are not, like him, entangled with flesh and blood. This is man as God made him to be. II. MAN AS SIN HAS MADE HIM (Ver. 8). — His crown is rolled in the dust, his honour tarnished. His sovereignty is strongly disputed by the lower orders of creation. If trees nourish him, it is after strenuous care, anal they often disappoint. If the earth supplies him with food, it is in tardy response to exhausting toil. If the beasts serve him, it is because they have been laboriously tamed and trained, whilst vast numbers roam the forest glades, setting him at defiance. If he catch the fish of the sea, or the bird of the air, he must wait long in cunning concealment. Some traces of the old lordship are still apparent in the terror which the sound of the human voice and the glance of the eye side inspire into the lower orders, in the feats of lion-tamer or snake-charmer. But for the most part anarchy and rebellion have laid waste his fair realm. So degraded has man become that he has bowed before the objects that he was to command, and has prostrated his royal form in shrines dedicated to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. III. MAN AS CHRIST CAN MAKE HIM (Ver. 9). — "What help is that? " cries an objector;" "of course He is crowned with glory and honour, since He is the Son of God." But, notice, the glory and honour mentioned here are altogether different from the glory of Hebrews 1:3. That was the incommunicable glory of His Deity. This is is the acquired glory of His humanity. 1. "We behold Him." — Behold Him, Christian. The wreaths of empire are on His brow. The keys of death and Hades swing at His girdle. The mysterious living creatures, representatives of creation, attest that He is worthy. All things in heaven, and earth, and under the earth, and in the seas worship Him; so do the bands of angels, beneath whom He stooped for a little season, on our behalf. 2. And as He is, we too shall be. He is there as the type and representative of redeemed men. We are linked with Him in indissoluble union. Through Him we shall get back our lost empire. We to, shall be crowned with glory and honour. The day is not far distant when we shall sit at His side; joint heirs in His empire; comrades in His glory, as we have been comrades in His sorrows; beneath our feet all things visible and invisible, thrones and principalities and powers; whilst above us shall be the unclouded empyrean of our Father's love, for ever and for ever. Oh, destiny of surpassing bliss! Oh, rapture of saintly hearts! Oh, miracle of Divine Omnipotence! (F. B. Meyer, B. J.) Parallel Verses KJV: But 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? |
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