EIGHT
Man/Son of Man
Part One
In this section I wish to contrast the levels of mankind (as formative) with the hoped for, but
less than alacritous result of man’s march into his fulfillment. We will look at three types of man.
They are, first, ‘man’ (the worldly); second, ‘the children of men’ (the transitional); and third, ‘the
son of mankind’ (the hoped-for outcome).
The first type of man is worldly. He is of the earth; of the world, his center is in the corporeal.
There is an indication that his sole justification lies in the production of a better type, and as such
may be considered little more than a tool in God’s hand. God uses him, but has given him his place
in the world and sustains him from that alone.
See Psalms 17:13-14, “Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is Thy sword: From men which are Thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with Thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.”
That it was known in early times that man was the first in a series, see Ecclesiastes 6:10, “That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.”
That early man knew of types by placement, see Revelation 5:3, “And no man in Heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.”
Man, as a type, it is written, may not contend with the superior type. We may here be tempted to think that the word “mightier” was meant to convey the angelic, but then, perhaps we would be correct. Angels often were called men. I wonder if the mighty and the angels of old might simply have been man upgraded, or, the children of men. If men were tools in the hand of God, then the children of men would have been advanced instruments. We have seen that types of man may be found in station from the pillars of the world all the way to Heaven itself.
God begins to work with the upgraded man. They receive the appellation ‘children of men’, a term that derives from the common notion that a son is the strength of his father.
See Genesis 49:3, “Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.”
Like a spark sputtering into a flame, mankind begins to produce its transitional descendants. They are the less worldly. They are men centered in the spirit; men to whom God may communicate.
See Psalms 11:4, “The Lord is in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in Heaven: His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the children of men.”
Note the word ‘try’. Another word for "try" is ‘prove’. We may see such in our own time. Carmakers ‘prove’ their vehicles with batteries of tests. They strap in the dummies and crash them again and again. The end result is an improved product. Not every model makes the grade. If we looked at early man as a model that did not make the grade, we might say that Noah’s generation was ‘recalled’.
The product, moreover, is reworked from within.
Notice that God is in His Holy Temple. Is that not the body inhabited by spirit? It is interesting to note the connotation of Psalms 11:4 - that God seems to have left the throne (but has He really?), that the throne’s Heavenly location is referenced in regard to God’s presence in the temple. Note, too, that ‘eyes’ and ‘eyelids’ are plurals, whereas earlier concepts of God give Him only a single eye. The temple is the child of man: the new improved model - with God at the wheel.
The new and improved man was not a common occurrence. When one was found, it was as noteworthy as finding a nugget of gold in a stream bed of ordinary rocks. Just men were given mention in early writings simply because they shined brighter than those around them. John the Baptist was mentioned as a just man. He was a man of spirit and virtue whose life was like a well-honed scalpel rather than the commonly filed knife. As a tool in God’s hand, everything about John: his words, his thoughts, the mere glance of the eye, made a difference or had an effect in the lives of those about him.
See Mark 6:20, “Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.”
In mankind’s attempt to pull itself up by its bootstraps, the ‘children-of-men-mentality’ must apply pressure against the older state of mind. Why is mankind attempting all? It is the new and improved mankind: it is the ‘children-of-men-mind set’; it is the intrusion of the mind of God. The new message is this: we no longer want to be the old worldly man; we want to rid ourselves of the old trappings. The old man was corporeal, carnal, centered in this present world.
See the transition begin in 1 Corinthians 3:3, “For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?”
Once begun, the process of reverse engineering sweeps forward exponentially. Many pressures are brought to bear. Seeds take root where they had never grown before.
See the sprout in Daniel 6:26, “I make a decree, that in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for He is the living God, (inhabiting the temple) and stedfast for ever, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall be even unto the end.”
For the beginnings of exponentiality, see Matthew 4:19, “He saith unto them, follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
That is a message at once both given to men and the children of men. The former goes out to the children of men.
For man, the message is Mark 1:17, “Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.”
There are real differences between men and the children of men. The new became a subculture vying for dominance. Man thought his place in the world was assured. When threatened, he lashed out. Religious differences: there are two mindsets, and therefore two intrusions. If the mindset of the children of men clearly states the nature of God via reflection and spin-off, then the mindset of worldly man must represent the nature of God’s competitor and antagonist.
See Mark 8:33, “When He had turned about and looked on His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind Me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.”
So again, what are the things of men? They are ‘envying’, ‘strife’, and ‘divisions’. Those are what the enemy savors. As well, those may typify the nature of very early civilization: the civilization of man. The mind set of the children of men is inclusive. Yet, the mind of worldly man, when not included into the spiritual, becomes useful for little other than kindling. They are the men beneath the earth. The children of men obtain the additional function of torching the old and useless.
In that may be seen an allusion to angels: John 15:6, “If a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth
as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are
burned.”
It may be said of the human nature that it has a dual nature. The dual function of the children of men (to place the good fish in vessels, and cast the fuel into the furnace) may well stem from that dual nature.
See the dual nature in 1 Corinthians 7:34, “The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit.”
See it again in 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”
The spirit in the children of men is that which may be communicated with; it is the image and glory of God: it is the mind. When a scriptural verse says ‘body and spirit’, we may interpret that to mean ‘body and mind’. In the broader language of this study, of course, we mean ‘corporeal and spiritual’.
In that the dual nature concerns the body and the mind, see Romans 7:23 and 25, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”
Mankind is a spastic creature in the throes of self-defeat. By self-defeat, I mean the transition from corporeal to spiritual. The newer model will replace the older model. The spiritually centered mindset will recruit from the corporeally centered mindset. What is left over will be used to stoke the furnace on the engine of transition.
We have examined the differences between ‘men’ and ‘children of men’. The two may, as a single entity, be placed over against the third type for comparison. In doing so, we compare ‘man’ to ‘the son of man’. We will see in future study that the manhood of the son of God is often referred to. To get to the truth of that matter, we will have to wade through opinion and general consensus.
We have our hip waders standing by.
For now, suffice it that a simple, brief comparison be put forth. Man is type one. Children of men (as in society) is type two. The example, or type, of the firstborn (under the common notion that the son was the strength of the father), is set forth in the ‘son of man’ as the design by which it will be judged that the children of men have progressed. It is the mark that mankind must aim for.
See the comparison in 1 Samuel 15:29, “And also the Strength of Israel (that has ‘son’ written all over it) will not lie nor repent: for He is not (like) a man (envying, strife, and divisions), that He should (needs to) repent (turn back from a corrupt state).”
See also Numbers 23:19, “God is not (like) a man, that He should (needs to) lie (coax, cajole, or wheedle); neither (is) the son of man (like a man), that He should (needs to) repent (turn back from a corrupt state).”
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