What is Mankind?
What Is Mankind? Rev. Robin Ross
Psalm 8:1,3
1Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
3When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
• The James Webb Space Telescope is 100 times more effective than the Hubble Space Telescope, and can see galaxies 13.6 billion light years away, with no end in sight.
• Astronomers say that there are more than 2 trillion galaxies, each with 100 billion stars.
• There are more stars in the universe than grains of sand on the seashore.
• Psalm 19:1 - The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.
The Glory of God
• Psalm 8:1 - You have set your glory in the heavens.
• The root meaning of the word "glory" is "heavy in weight" – value, honour, worth.
• Isaiah 48:11 – For My own sake, I will do it; for how should My name be profaned? And I will not give My glory to another.
• Isn't that kind of egotistical?
• Revelation 4:11 - You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.
God Alone Is Worthy Of Glory
• He is the creator and sustainer of the entire universe. He has all power; He is present everywhere; He knows everything; He is unchanging and everlasting, unaffected by time and space. He is utterly unique.
• All glory belongs to Him. For Him to claim all glory is not sinful or egotistical, because He alone deserves it.
• Why does God want glory?
• Why is God's glory and honour so important to Him?
God's Glory is Disputed
• Satan exalted himself above God, and claimed to be a god.
• He was cast out of heaven.
• Luke 10:18 - And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
• Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, and Revelation 12 and 20 describe the event in great detail.
• Lucifer is another name for Satan, meaning "light-bearer".
Isaiah 14:12-15 The Fall of Lucifer
12 How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
“I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.”
15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit. (NKJV)
The passage from Ezekiel 28 is all about Satan claiming to be a god, his fall, and his activity in the Garden of Eden, but it is couched in symbolic language, as if addressed to the earthly King of Tyre.
Ezekiel 28:1 Proclamation Against the King of Tyre
1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, 2 “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“Because your heart is lifted up,
And you say, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of gods,
In the midst of the seas,’
Yet you are a man, and not a god,
Though you set your heart as the heart of a god …
Ezekiel 28:6-9
6 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god,
7 Behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you …
8 They shall throw you down into the Pit, And you shall die the death of the slain In the midst of the seas.
9 “Will you still say before him who slays you, ‘I am a god’?
But you shall be a man, and not a god,
In the hand of him who slays you.”
Ezekiel 28:11-17 Lamentation for the King of Tyre
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering …
14 “You were the anointed cherub who covers;
I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.
15 You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.
16 “By the abundance of your trading
You became filled with violence within,
And you sinned;
Therefore I cast you as a profane thing
Out of the mountain of God;
And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the fiery stones.
17 “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor; I cast you to the ground (NKJV) Revelation 12:3-4
3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. (NKJV)
Revelation 20:1-3
Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
A Cosmic Battle
• There is classic drama of good versus evil on a cosmic scale that is unfolding in the spiritual world, unseen by human beings.
• We enter a world unaware that it is infected by evil seeking to trick mankind into believing that it is good.
• What is the role of mankind?
Psalm 8:3-6
3 When I consider your heavens...
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.
What is Mankind?
• 1 Corinthians 6:2a,3a - Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? ... Do you not know that we shall judge angels?
• Mankind has been created as a kind of jury in the dispute over who gets all the glory – God or Satan.
• In the Garden of Eden, Satan presented his opening arguments.
• Ever since the Garden of Eden, he has been trying to get people to rob God of His glory and side with him.
God Does Everything For His Glory
• John 17:4 – "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do."
• John 11:40 – "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"
• Westminster Shorter Catechism – “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.”
It's Not About Us
• God's priority isn't our comfort or happiness or pleasure.
• He wants us to witness His glory and reflect it to the rest of the world.
• Our success is a gift of God, to bring Him glory.
• Struggles, heartaches, and tragedies are there for one purpose – to bring glory to God.
• Psalm 50:15 – "Call on Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."
God Will Be Glorified…
• When people see us trusting God in adversity and struggle.
• When people see how God sees us through our trials and testings, meeting our needs.
• When people see our faith in spite of our circumstances, and God’s sustaining power.
• 2 Corinthians 4:17 - For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
• Matthew 5:16 - Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
Spiritual Development Occurs …
• When we praise and glorify God, through prayer and worship, singing inspiring hymns, and reading His Word.
• When the Holy Spirit becomes more active within us, causing us to become more like Christ.
• When we try to recognize ways that we can fulfill God's purpose for our lives, in joy and sorrow, in prosperity and adversity, and in struggle and triumph.
A Daily Prayer
• "God, how can my life give You the most glory today?"
• Are we living for His glory or for our own?
• Do we recognize God's glory in our lives?
• Do our thoughts, words, attitudes and actions display God's glory to those around us?