text is found in Job chapter
7 and verses 17 and 18 Job chapter 7 verses 17 and 18 what is man
that thou shouldest magnify him and that thou shouldest set thine
heart upon him and that thou shouldest shouldest visit him
every morning and try him every moment Three questions then that
Job puts before the Lord here in this text, Job chapter 7 and
verses 17 and 18. And there's a sense in which
that question is repeated several times, as I'm sure you're aware.
We also find it twice or something similar on two occasions there
in the book of Psalms in Psalm 8 and verse 4, what is man that
thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest
him. And those words are then taken
up in that portion that we read in Hebrews chapter 2. Then again
in the 144th Psalm at verse 3, Lords, what is man that thou
takest knowledge of him, or the Son of Man that thou makest account
of him?" And so certainly here in the Old Testament we have
this question, what is man, on these three separate occasions. And the preacher tells us in
Ecclesiastes that a three-fold cord is not quickly broke this
threefold core, these words that are so significant. And what are these questions? Well, the old Scots preacher
Ebenezer Erskine said they're all down bringing questions. When these questions are put
concerning man, the intention, the point of the questions is
to humble man, to bring man down. Whereas, in contrast, when we
have questions put concerning God, we might say they are given
to raise our admiration. For example, in Psalm 89 and
verse 6, "...who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord,
who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord."
All these questions they They exalt God. And then of course
we have those quite remarkable words at the end of the book
of the prophet Micah. There in the 7th chapter of the
book of Micah. At verse 18 and the following
verses. Who is a God like unto her that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. He will take not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and they will
cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. They will
perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which they
were sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. Who is a pardoning
God, like thee, But who has Christ so rich and free? These questions then, when we
find them laid before us and speaking to us of the Lord God
Himself, how they have that tendency to exalt God in our thoughts
and in our affections if we're those who are spiritual men and
women. But the question, when we find
it concerning man, what is man? and yet here in the words that
I've read for our text in Job chapter 7 we see how though God
will humble man yet in reality man is also to be magnified what
is man that thou shouldest magnify him and that thou shouldest set
thine heart upon him that thou shouldest visit him every morning
and try him every moment Well, in considering the text, and
in particular this opening part of verse 17, those first three
words, what is man? I want us to consider man in
a threefold sense this morning, and how man is magnified in terms
firstly of creation, and then secondly we see him magnified
in salvation in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and then thirdly we see man magnified in that the Lord takes account
of him and the Lord has dealings with him even sometimes in the
way of correction and chastisement. First of all then, considering
how man is very much magnified when we think of God's great
work of the original creation. And isn't that the truth that
stands out in particular in the language of the 8th Psalm that
I referred to just now there in Psalm 8 and verse Verse 3, When I consider thy
heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which
thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mindful of him,
and the Son of man, that thou visitest him? But then it says,
verse 6, Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy
hands. Thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep, and
oxen, yea, and the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, and
the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of
the sea. It is quite clear when we read
the biblical accounts of the creation, how that man is that
creature that stands at the very apex. of all that great work
of God. We know how that in creation
God simply speaks everything into being. The Divine Facts. How God said, and it was so. God said, and it was so. When God says, let there be light,
there is light. When God says, let the dry land
appear, the dry land appears, by the word of the Lord. Were
the heavens made, or the host of them, by the breath of his
mouth? He spake, says the psalmist, and it was done. He commanded
and it stood fast. But then when we come to that
sixth day and the creation of man, you know the account, that
instead of God simply speaking the man into being, God speaks
with himself. There is a council between the
persons in the Godhead. We see here the triune Jehovah,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God said, let us make man in
our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, over the
cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him. Male and female created
he them. And God blessed them, and God
said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the
earth, and subdue it. And have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living
thing that move upon the earth. Oh yes, man is a sinful creature
and he abuses that position that God has given him. But the earth
is given to serve the man. It matters not what the environmentalists
and the like might say. God has given man this position
in the earth. He is to be fruitful, is to multiply,
is to replenish the earth, is to subdue it, is to have dominion.
He stands there at the very apex of all God's great work, but
man has sinned. And as I said, man does so often
abuse that position that God has given him. And alas, how
soon it is that we see man transgressing. We have just a few chapters to
go through at the beginning of Scripture. We come to that third
chapter of Genesis and there we have that solemn record of
the fall of man. All that man who was so noble,
how Adam had given names to all the creatures that the Lord God
had brought before him. What a remarkable creature man
was in that state of innocence and yet and yet so soon he sins
he disobeys God we have the fall of man, man being in honour abides
not or man couldn't lodge as it were one night in that state
of innocence and so we have that history, lo this only have I
found the preacher says God made man upright but they have sought
out many inventions And so what do we see? We see man now not
as the image-bearer of God, but that image so disfigured, so
masked. He is that one now who has embraced
the devil and the devil's lie sooner than the truth of God.
And so man is abominable and man is a filthy creature. And how we find these sort of
statements here in this book of Job, look at the language
that we have later in chapter 15. Verse 14, What is man that he
should be clean? And he which is born of a woman,
that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in
his sights. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. How much more abominable and
filthy is man which drinketh iniquity like water. There in
verse 15, Eliphaz, the speaker here in chapter 15, is obviously
referring to God. He put us no trust in his saints. Yea, the heavens are not clean
in his sight. But then he contrasts, you see,
God and all his holiness, a man so filthy, so abominable, a man
drinking iniquity like water. Well, this is the sad condition
that man has fallen into. There is no profit in the man. Again, look at the language later
in chapter 22. Again, it's Eliphaz the Timonite.
Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be
profitable unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty
that thou art righteous? Or is it gain to him that thou
makest thy ways perfect? Or man is said to be like unto
Vanity. And here in this particular chapter
where our text is found, we see Job complaining, complaining
of his own life, how he feels the brevity and the vanity of
that life. And the chapter opens, is there
not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days
also like the days of an hireling? Verse 60 says, My days are swifter
than a weaver's shuttle, and I spend without hope. Oh, remember
that my life is wind. Mine eyes shall no more see good.
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more. Thine
eyes are upon me, and I am not. Oh, he feels himself to be but
a sinner. What does he say at verse 20?
I have sinned. for he acknowledges the vanity
of his life, the shortness of his life. What did God say to
the man after his transgression? There in the garden of Eden dost
thou art, and under dust shalt thou return. O man's life is such a brief
life, then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, says
the preacher, and the Spirit to God who gave it. Man as a
synod. And yet man as that one who in
his creation as he came pristine from the hand of his God stood
at the very apex of all that great work that God had done. What is man? Well, when we think of man in
creation and what man has come because of his own foolishness
and his own father and now this is the lesson and the truth that
we have to learn if we would really come to any true knowledge
of God when we think of the ministry of John the Baptist who comes
to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord that voice crying
in the wilderness spoken of in Isaiah chapter 14 The voice said,
cry and he said, what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass
withereth, the flower fadeth because the spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth but the word of our God shall stand forever. This is
the ministry of John, John the Baptist, the harbinger of Christ. Now we have to learn the truth
of what we are. Man might have been a glorious
being when first created, when he comes from the hand of his
maker, but what has man become? And yet God takes account of
the man. What is man? That thou shouldest
magnify him, and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him. And so I want to turn in the
second place to consider man in relation to the Lord Jesus
Christ and it's here that we see the wonder of God and the
ways of God when we think of man in Christ all the election of grace are
chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ all salvation flows from the
the covenant of grace. There was not only a covenant
with regards to man's creation, that consultation between the
persons of the Godhead that we referred to just now at the end
of Genesis chapter 1. But there is that council of
peace. There is that covenant of redemption between Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, that great purpose of salvation that is
unfolding. especially of the language of
the Apostle there in the first chapter of the Epistle of the
Ephesians where we see the electing love of the Father and the great
redemptive work of the Son and then the Spirit, that One who
comes and seals that salvation in the souls of the election
of Christ But what does it say there in Ephesians 1, 4, "...according
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world."
The whole election of grace, they are chosen in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Isn't the Lord Jesus that One
who is God's first elect? Behold, He says in the Covenant,
My servants are My upholds. mine elect in whom I have put
my spirit." Oh, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is God's first
elect in that covenant. And then He comes to accomplish
that work in order that He might save as many as the Father had
given unto Him in that covenant. Election is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And who is it that God has set
His love upon, it's the fallen sons of men. There's no provision
for the fallen angels. No, He was made a little lower
than the angels. He took not upon Him the nature
of the angels. No, He took upon Him the seed
of Abraham. They are elect in the Lord Jesus
Christ from all eternity. God in His grace has set His
hearts upon the sinful sons of men that they should have set
thine hearts upon him." But then as they are chosen in the Lord
Jesus Christ so we see man greatly magnified when the Lord comes
to accomplish that great work of salvation or do we not see
man so magnified in the Incarnation? Adam, the first man, we're told
is the figure of him that was to come. Read it there in Romans
5.14. He is the figure of him that
was to come. Adam, the first man, is a type
of the one that was to come, the true man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is spoken of, of course, as the last Adam. There
in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 the first man Adam was made a living
soul, the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Who is that
last Adam? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. The first man is of the earth,
earthly, that's how Adam was made, he was made out of the
dust of the earth. God breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life, he became a living soul. But what of this
last Adam? The first man is of the earth,
earthly. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. And now in the incarnation of
course we have that great miracle of the virgin birth. A virgin is with child. All this
is an impossibility. But what says the angel to Mary? The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore
also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. For he has taken upon him, you
see, the seed of Abraham, forasmuch as the children were partakers
of flesh and blood. He likewise took part of the
sign. And you know I read that portion
in Hebrews chapter 2 because there we have the right and the
proper interpretation of what said in the second psalm. Remember
the language of the second, rather the 8th psalm. Remember the language of the
8th psalm. What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son
of man that thou visitest him." Well, there in Hebrews chapter
2 we see how the apostle takes up those words of the psalmist
and applies them quite clearly to the Lord Jesus. 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. thou madest
him a little lower than the angels, thou crownest him with glory
and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands,
thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he
put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put
under him. But now we see not yet all things
put under him. But these are the telling words,
but we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels,
Who is the man that is being spoken of in that psalm? Why, in Psalm 8, the psalmist
is speaking of THE man. That is the Lord Jesus Christ,
that man of whom we sang just now. The man there is a real
man with wounds still gaping wide from which rich streams
of blood once ran in hands and feet and sight. It's here that
we see man magnified in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the person of
Him who is the God-Man. And what does the Lord Jesus
come into this world to do? It's not just the person of Christ.
It's the great work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here we see what
man should be. What does the Lord Jesus do in
His life? He is holy, He is harmless, He
is undefiled, He is separate from sinners, He is made higher
than the heavens, He is made of a woman, He is made under
the law, and what does He do? He honors the Lord, He magnifies
the Lord, He fulfills all the commandments of God, He accomplishes a glorious righteousness,
And now in that life, of course, he is honoring the law in respect
to every one of its commandments, its precepts. He perfectly fulfills
it all. He is that one who is sinless
and perfect. And yet then that holy righteous
man dies the accursed death of the cross. Why so? Because he
must not only honour and magnify the law with regards to its precepts,
but he must also do the same with regards to all its penalties. And there, in dying, what does
he do? He bears the punishment that was due to the sinner. He
dies, and he dies a just for the unjust to bring sinners to
God. all salvation you see is in that
man and in all that great work that he has accomplished when
he finished the transgression and made an end of sin and made
reconciliation for iniquity and brought in everlasting righteousness
he is made ever woman he is made under the law we read to redeem
to redeem them that were under the law there is redemption in
the man Christ Jesus in whom we have redemption through his
blood says the Apostle the forgiveness of sins according to the riches
of his grace oh what is man that thou shouldest magnify him and
that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him now we see the
wonder of man then there in the person and the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ and so in Christ in Christ we see our man is chosen or the elect chosen
in him or we see man honored and magnified in the incarnation
of the eternal Son of God We see that man then accomplishing
all righteousness, a great work of redemption. And so in the
Lord Jesus Christ we see man restored. We see man restored. If any man be in Christ, Paul
says, he is a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. Oh, he has so reconciled the
sinner unto God. He has brought those who were
in a state of enmity and alienation so far from God, He has brought
them near to God. This is the great work that the
Lord Jesus Christ has done. He has restored man. He has restored
man. In Ephesians 4, 24 we read of
that new man which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. Man, when he was created at first,
was made in the image and in the likeness of God. But as we
said, that image has been so disfigured, so marked. Man is
a fallen creature now. Ah, but there's that new man
of grace. You see what the Lord Jesus Christ has done? Which
after God is created in righteousness. That's the new creation. He's
renewed now. Renewed in knowledge. after the
image of Him that created Him. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ
that we see the real worth of man and in that work that Christ
has accomplished in order to the salvation of the sinner. He is there then in creation
at the very apex of all that work that God has made. but then fallen he is restored
now in the Lord Jesus Christ why Isaac Watts says in him that
is in Christ the sons of Adam boast more blessings than their
father lost but then in the third place we
see how God shows the worth of man in those dealings that he
is pleased to have with the man and this is what Job was learning
look at verse 18 he asked the question what is man that thou
shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment well
what does God do? he deals with man and he deals
with him in such a fashion as to restore him And what does
that entail? Well, it entails many things. There must be those bitter experiences. There must be that realization
of what he is as a sinner. He must be brought to feel his
sad fallen condition. He must learn in his own soul
the awful doctrine of his total depravity. And it's not just
the beginning, you see. It's what God is doing constantly,
teaching us. about ourselves, showing us ourselves. This is what Job experienced
many trials. And he is complaining here. He can't fathom, he can't understand
the ways of God and the dealings of God. Well, look at what he says at
the end of verse 20. Why hast thou set me as a mark
against thee? so that I'm a burden to myself."
Now he feels these things, he feels that God has set him as
a mark and God is, as it were, aiming his arrows at him. If we go back to the language
of verse 4 in chapter 6, the arrows of the Almighty, it says,
are within me. The poison whereof drinketh up
my spirit, the terrors of God do set themselves in array against
me. all that has come upon this man
and none of it has come by mere chance all of these things are
under the hand of a sovereign God, He knows that God is sovereign
in His trials you're familiar you're familiar with the with
the book of Job I'm sure and you remember the strange opening
that we had where we see the devil presenting himself before
the Lord with the sons of God. And what do we read there in
chapter 1 at verse 8? The Lord says to Satan, Hast
thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in
the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and
as doeth evil? You see, Job was a justified
sinner. He's not righteous in himself.
He is one who is chosen in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're
introduced to him there at the beginning of the first chapter. There was a man in the land of
Uz whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright,
one that feared God and destroyed evil. There might have been something
of self-righteousness in him, but I'm persuaded that he was
a true child of God, he was a justified sinner, He was righteous in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And here at verse 8, the Lord
says, As thou considered my servant Job, speaking to Satan, none
like him in the earth, perfect and upright, one that feareth
God and doeth evil. Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, Doth Job fear God for naught? hath thou not made an hedge about
him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every
side? Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But
put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he
will curse it to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself
put not forth thine hand. And so Satan departs from the
presence of the Lord. What is being taught there is
that Satan is no free agent. God is not the author of sin.
But God is sovereign. And the devil can do nothing
except God's permitted. And so Job goes away and you
know what follows, the destruction of everything. All his possessions
gone. all his children killed and poor Job at the end of that chapter, that
first chapter we're told in all this Job sinned not nor charged
God foolishness but then the devil comes again initially he
cannot touch the person of Job but then in chapter 2 At verse
3, again the Lord says to Satan, as thou considerest my servant
Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and
an upright man, one that feareth God and destureth evil. And still
he holdeth his integrity, although thou movest me against him to
destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord and
said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give
for his life. Put forth thine hand now, and
touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy
face and the Lord said unto Satan behold he is in thine hand but
save his life and then he's now afflicted in his own person he's
afflicted in his own person and he's covered from the crown of
his head to the soles of his feet with terrible boils and
he goes and he sits amongst the ashes and he takes a potsherd
and he scrapes himself but it's not only his physical
condition as we see in this chapter how he feels that God is tormenting
him even when he seeks to find some rest some sleep God comes
and he knows where is some nights he says when I lay down I say
when shall I arise and the night be gone I am full of tossings
to and fro unto the dawnings of the dark Then God troubles
him with dreams. When I say, my bed shall comfort
me, my couch shall ease my complaint, then thou scarest me with dreams
and terrifies me through visions. Oh, poor Job. And yet God is
in it all. None of it is coming by chance.
This is the amazing truth that we have unfolded to us in this
book and what is God doing? God is magnifying him for what
is man that they should just magnify him that they should
have set thine heart upon him that they should just visit him
every morning and try him every moment this is what God is doing
he is his teacher, his instructor and Job says it later Chapter
36, Behold God exalted by His power. Who teaches like him? All of this experience is the
teachings of God. You see, Job's religion is not
just a matter of the mind and descent into dark pride or truth. No, Job's religion is reaching
into the very depths of his being. He's learning, and he's learning
under the sovereign hand of God and the afflicting hand of God.
And what does he come to say at the end of the book? I have
heard of thee by the hearing of the ear. But now mine eye
seeth thee, wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and
ashes. Here's that man, you see, he's
being chastened by the Lord. Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons. What son is he whom the
Father chasteneth not? Oh, it's not pleasant. No chastening
for the presence him that to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless,
afterward, he yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
who tried thereby. This is Job. How he's being tried
by all the dealings of the Lord. Oh, he is a blessed man. in the language again of the
Psalm 94 verse 12, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest
and teachest him out of thy law, it says. Isn't this Job's experience? God teaches a man and what is
the teaching of the law? What is the teaching of the law?
By the law is the knowledge of sin. All sin is of man, we know that. As I said, God is not the author
of sin. Adam transgressed, Eve transgressed.
And sin has entered now into this creation. And sin is of
man, but that real sense of sin, where does that come from? Though
all our sinners in God's sight there are, but few so in their
own. All that sin is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made
him so. That sinner who is now taught,
who has a sense of his sins, the sense of sin comes only from
God. Paul says the law entered that
the offense might abound. But, where sin abounded, Christ
did much more abound. Oh, there is a law work, yes. God chastens a man. God teaches
a man out of his Lord. He shows the man what he is.
He convinces him of his sin. But doesn't law serve grace? Doesn't law serve gospel? The
law was given by Moses, grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
All salvation has come by that man. There we see the glory of
man in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
is a lesson that Job is having to learn and this is a lesson
friends that we have to learn and we learn it not just at the
beginning of our experience. Do you have a testimony to God
and the dealings of God and the grace of God? When I say a testimony
I don't mean for you to tell me something that you believe
you experienced 10, 20, 30 years ago or with those who have daily
experiences of the grace of God. You know the dealings of God,
the leadings of God, sometimes the hidings of God's face. And
God must be constantly instructing us, He must be with us, precept
upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little. This is Job's experience. And
so he puts the questions, these three questions, what is man,
that thou shouldest magnify him and that thou shouldest set thine
heart upon him and that thou shouldest visit him every morning
and try him every moment. Oh God grant that we might know
the dealings of this God and be brought ultimately to look
to him who is the Imam. Oh remember the the language
of the Pilate when he brings the Lord Jesus before those Jews
who were demanding his death, his execution. And what does
Pilate say to them? Behold the man. Oh God grant that we might see
one far greater than Job here in our text, that we might see
that man, even the man Christ Jesus. The Lord Bless this word
to us. Amen.