A Serious Inquiry # 2

A Serious Inquiry # 2

There is everything in man to offend the eyes of God's holiness, and to grieve His loving heart. Looking at man as fallen - polluted, and under the power of sin - we may well ask, "What is man, that You are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4).

What is man SPIRITUALLY? That is, man as renewed by the Holy Spirit, as united to Jesus, and as brought into fellowship with God. Man as a new creation. Man as in Christ. Ah! what is man then? It is like turning from a barren wilderness - to Eden, from an arid desert - to the garden of the Lord.

Renewed man is God's own CHILD. The child of His love. The child which He has adopted for His own. The child into which He has infused His own holy nature. The child on whom He confers His richest blessings, which He elevates to the highest honors. The child whom He constitutes His heir, and a joint-heir with His only begotten Son. The child to which He gives His Spirit, for which He prepares a city, and appoints a kingdom.

Man is God's CHOICE. When angels sinned - He cast them out of heaven, bound them in chains of darkness, and doomed them to appear before His Son for judgment. There was no mercy for them. Not one of all their vast number was chosen. They were left to reap the due desert of their deeds.

No so man. God saw that he would fall. He knew what he would become - and yet He chose out of fallen mankind, a number which no man can number to eternal life. "Lord, what is man, that You should choose him?" The only reply we can give is, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight."

Man is chosen in Christ - chosen to holiness - chosen to everlasting life - chosen to the highest honors, and the sweetest joys. How wonderful is God's grace - and His ways are past finding out. What an overwhelming thought for a sinner to cherish in his bosom, "I am God's choice! God has chosen me to salvation! God has chosen me of His own mere grace! God has chosen me, who deserved and must have sunk to hell - if left to myself! God has chosen me to be His child, the object of His love, and to share in all the glories of His heavenly kingdom!

Man is God's COMPANION. He is to walk with God. He is called to have fellowship with God. He is directed to pour out his heart before God. He is to treat God with confidence, communicating everything to Him, asking everything of Him, and expecting every good thing from Him. God promises to visit him, to manifest Himself to him, and to dwell in him and walk in Him. What astonishing grace! And will God, the great, the glorious, the holy God - take poor, sinful, vile, wretched man for His choice, His child, His companion? He will! He has done it! He is daily doing it! 

What will renewed man BE? This is a question no man can answer, for even the inspired Apostle John confesses his ignorance, "Beloved," says he, "now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be - but when He shall appear we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is!" 

Renewed man will be like Jesus. Man will be with God. Man will see and hear and know, and possess, and enjoy - all he can possibly desire, all that his glorified nature is capable of. He will be more than unfallen Adam was, more than angels are, for he will be as nearly like God as perfected haman nature can be made like the Divine.

Let us then meditate devoutly upon this glorious subject, let us endeavor to realize our interest in it, and let us pray the Holy Spirit to unfold and apply it to our souls - until filled with surprise, humility, and profound gratitude we exclaim with David, "Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him! man is like to vanity, his days are as a shadow that passes away."

~James Smith~

(The End)