WHAT IS MAN? Hebrews 2:6-7 “What is man?” Four times in the Bible, this question is asked. When we stop to consider the insignificance and weakness of human beings and the goodness and condescension of God toward us, we are confounded and ask that question. Why do frail mortal beings like us have the honor and authority to have been given the place of control over animals, and the ability to utilize all the wonders of God’s created earth for our use?
The Glory of His Person indicates the great distance between the Creator and the creature. “What is man?” is a question people often ask of themselves when they want to think about who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. Idolaters believe man is equal to the birds, beasts, and creeping things he bows before. They make images themselves out of wood, stone, and metal, and then bow down before symbols of human imagination. Materialists think man is a chance product of the natural forces that have evolved him, so he will eventually evolve away into some strange creature.
Man, as God made him at first, was able to do and be what God intended. Sin has changed all that. Man seems insignificant compared with the grandeur all around us – life is as a breath, and we are like a small bug in a forest. Our character is sin-stained, and we seem to defile every scene with discord. [Ps.144:3; Job 7:17-20; Ps.8:4; Heb.2:6]. But God is "mindful" of us: Our God thinks about us unceasingly because of His love and interest. When we read that God "visiteth him," that indicates there is no place so solitary that He does not draw near to visit and make a connection with us. God created man in His own image [Gen.1:27] with specific characteristics that He has so we can mentally and morally share with God. God intended for us to share with Him and “have dominion”, like a king crowned with glory and honor.
The infinite God has set His heart upon finite man and put His love upon us when He made us to be like Him. “How precious are Thy thoughts to me, O God.” He who inhabits eternity and whose name is Holy dwells in the high and lofty place, and also with those humans who have a humble and contrite spirit and who tremble at His words. Even though we cannot see God with natural eyes, He opens the spiritual understanding and eyesight to those who are born again by the Spirit of God into His family. We can see Him by faith and communicate with Him through our words, and
He with us through His written words. He visits us in the spirit of our minds and hearts because He has made us partakers of His divine nature.
He has visited us in the world and has redeemed us. He has come to us with mercy and grace, and His thoughts and purposes of love are toward us. When we contrast God’s greatness, dignity, and majesty to our weakness, smallness, and frailty, we have to conclude that God has a sovereign reason for us being alive.
“What is man?” initially spoke of human beings, not “Jesus,” in Psalm 8. The Holy Spirit inspired the writer of Hebrews to go beyond the meaning in the psalm to include the Lord Jesus Christ in the fulfillment of that scripture. The Son of Man is the representative of all humanity as God intends it to be. For the purposes of God, He has placed humanity over all created things, which includes angels. What high dignity God has given to frail, mortal humans!
Psalm 8 provides us with a glimpse into what God had in mind when He created us. The fact that He “made” man, “crowned” man, set man as rulers over the works of His hands, and put everything under the feet of man, are some of the reasons why He made us in His image. Man has been given power that no other created creature has. God gave man the place of being His representative and head over things on earth.
Psalm 8 refers to man as God intended and created him to be. The place of man’s authority on earth is as old as creation. Mankind was made a little lower than the angels who serve God in heaven. The glory and honor man has is because of his delegated power over all things on earth, like animals, birds, and fish.