What is Man? - Removing The Fog of Religion

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What is Man?

STUDIES & DOC

What Is Man?
By Your servant, Dan Baxley

What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, (Job 7:17)


This is a question that men have been asking for centuries and it is a question a Spirit had asked a friend of Job’s dating back to a time before Moses.  Maybe we should read the whole context of this question in the setting it first appeared and by whom it was that really asked this important question?

Here is where this question actually originates – a Spirit comes to a friend of Job’s and whispers in his ear.  This is going to be questions this spirit wants Eliphaz, Job’s friend to ask, and ask and question he does.  Apparently this friend thinks this spirit is from God and is passing some wisdom on to him so he can question and tempt Job to surrender and curse His Creator.  

As you read this, however, look at it closely and see that this is a "dark spirit" and put a kind of terror in Elphaz’s heart, but still he listens and then, as you read in Job 7, Elphaz uses this questions and reasoning to try and break Job down.  
This spirit is either Satan or one of his underlings and the question is not one of wonder, but of sarcasm and ridicule.  It is also a question many have asked of themselves and of mankind in general, and there is an answer, not an answer Satan wants to hear, of course, but he is the one that brought it up and has used this kind of questioning to cause man, over the centuries, to question themselves, and to doubt themselves.  This question exposes the underlying hate and disgust Satan has for mankind.  

Let’s have a look at this all important question that Satan plants in the ear of men to confuse and tempt them into despair and hopelessness.  Then we will examine the answer --  

(Job 4:12-13)  A word was secretly brought to me (Elphaz), my ears caught a whisper of   Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,  fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.
(Job 4:15-16)  A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.   It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:
(Job 4:17)  'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
(Job 4:18-19)  If God places no trust in His servants, if he charges His angels with error,   how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!

(Job 4:20-21)  Between dawn and dusk they (mankind) are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever.  Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?'


Read it again, this time with a voice of scorn and hate, whisper as the "demon" might and hear how this really sounds.  A message was being delivered alright and Elphaz was encouraged to use this spirit’s wisdom on, or against, Job. "What is man, he is but dirt, easier to crush than a common moth, broken up into pieces day and night with not hope – what is man?" This is the question from Satan showing his contempt for mankind.  But, the question, the original question is legitimate and the answer is not what Satan wants to hear, but by his own mouth or the mouth of his demon agent he asked the question in an attempt to shake, not only Job’s faith, but the faith of other – until, that is, the hope of our faith rose from the dead.

What is man that He would be mindful of him?  We are the Children of the Living God, we are the beginning of those He has called to be His Children.  He personally sent an individual to make this possible, to weed out the potential beings like or that would become like Satan out, to expose the wicked and to separate out Children for Himself to enter and rule the Kingdom, not only this Kingdom but of the Universe – when all is said and done.  So, who are we that He, the Creator of all things, including the angels of Heaven, that He should be mindful of us?  We are HIS begotten and adopted sons and daughters awaiting our transformation from flesh to Spirit – that is who we are.

(2Co 5:1)  Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

(2Co 5:2-5)  Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.


Go back and read what the evil spirit had to say, see how it is not a lie, it is a question to cause hopelessness in men.  We see in Paul’s revelation our real calling and that while this "tent" we live in is perishing and is in pain and we do agonize a time is coming when we will put on a new body, and eternal body.  We are not in a hopeless condition and He, our Heavenly Father, has His eye on us and all that have died in His Spirit.  


(1Co 15:51-53)  Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.  For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

(2Co 5:21)  God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.


This is what Satan does not want to hear, this is the answer to his question that he asks himself, but the answer is not to his liking, but it is the answer.

(1Jn 3:1)  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
(1Jn 3:2)  Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
(1Jn 3:3)  Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

(Php 3:20-21)  But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to bring everything under His control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body.

While our true citizenship is in Heaven and we live as strangers on this earth we are "waiting" on Him to bring our certificates of citizenship, so to speak and to change us into the same immortal Spirit He is of.  We will "be like His glorious body".  


(2Co 5:2-5)  Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.  Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.


Our future is to inherit the Kingdom to enter where Satan will never be allowed.  

We are extremely important to our Heavenly Father and even though Satan and his gang of demons do not like it and would love to make us doubt our own destiny he has lost the battle and has been tossed from Heaven.  This, however, is not good for men of the world because Satan and His angels are no longer in Heaven, causing trouble, but on this earth, trapped, no more access to Heaven, and he does not like it.  You can read about this in Revelation 12 – here is a sample of what has already happened since our Lord was caught up to Heaven to be with the Father.  Contrary to what some teach, there is not war in Heaven, that is finished and the Angels of Heaven rejoice, but woe to the inhabitants of the Earth –

(Rev 12:7-9)  And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven.  The great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.

When you look at the context of this event you will see it is after our Savior, YaHshua is caught up to Heaven that this war takes place.  And the Angels of Heaven rejoiced because this trouble maker, Satan and his angels were cast out.  Satan is not sitting in Heaven accusing the brethren day and night, as some suppose, that is past, he is cast to the earth and his place in Heaven, along with the angels that followed him, is not more.    

(Rev 12:10)  Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down.

Read this closely – "For the accuser ……. has been hurled down".  Those who quote this verse leave the last part out.  He, Satan, the accuser, is no longer in heaven accusing anyone, He and his angels have been "hurled down" – down to this Earth.

(Rev 12:12)  Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

So, those in Heaven can rejoice because this evil Spirit is not long among them, he has been hurled down – "But woe to the earth and the sea…".  The earth and the sea would mean the whole planet, all of earth, the land and the sea.  Satan and his demon angels, then, are everywhere, or better still, have access to all that we know and call earth, but he and his bunch no longer have access to Heaven.  

These demonic forces of Satan are set to tempt and chase after the people of God.  Again, from the history of man from the time our Savior, and before, but especially in our modern historical past we have seen this pursuit of a class of people trying to destroy the People of God as seen in the people of Israel, the Jews.  They have managed to get a new foot hold in the land of their ancestors and still there is an evil force and influence present in this earth trying to destroy them.  How brazen some have been, calling for the complete annihilation of the people of Israel and hardly a sound from the rest of the world.  In fact, when Modern Israel protects themselves they are seen as the aggressor.  If these evil forces were ever to overrun the Modern nation of Israel there would be a blood bath greater than anything mankind has seen before.  All we have to do is look at what the ISIS hordes are doing and trying to do.  What does ISIS mean?

ISIS
ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Al Sham (Al Sham meaning the Levant, or Greater Syria). ISIL is Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. As you can see, they are basically the same thing, but ISIS uses the Arabic word 'Al-Sham' for the region, as opposed to name, Syria.  Both point to the same region, and the irony is that this term also is a reference to an Egyptian goddess.

The leaders of this terrorist gang of thugs makes no other claims than its ambition to establish a Caliphate, a single, united Islamic State governed by Shari Law and enforced by penalty of death --  to all none converts to their religion.  They are a murderous bunch and have been enjoying some success, mostly because Europe and the USA are sitting on their hands.  Maybe it is time for the Arab states to put up or shut up.  These marauders are as big a threat to kingdoms like Saudi Arabia as to Israel, they are not the friends of anyone and are thirsty for blood anyone’s blood not bound to them.  Sunnis mostly -- not friends of the Shiite who is primarily the nation of Iran – this could turn out very badly for Iran in the long run.  What is that old saying, "you reap what you sow", and this may apply here.  If the ISIS manage to conquer Iraq then their natural enemy, Iran will be on their border.  Not that many years ago, when Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq, millions of Iranian loyalist martyred themselves before the guns of Iraq, armed with nothing more than a copy of the Quran.  The Sunnis (ISIS) have not love for the Shiite and while Saddam was neither he used the Sunnis and others to try and bring Iran under his influence.  Once he was not able to do that he made sure the Sunni element in his Iraq would be suppressed and kept under control.  It seems Saddam saw the danger of letting them be anything more than farmers.  Now we can see why.  

We can see these events and many, many other events from the past that demonstrate Satan and his influence in the earth and his constant chasing after the woman that gave birth to the Son of God.  YaHshua came out of Israel, a Jew of the flesh and the irony is how many of those of the Islamic religion honor YaHshua as a great prophet but want to kill His people.  

What does this have to do with Satan asking the question in a damning way?  Proof that he is here, he and his angels (demons) are among us and constantly influencing evil men and women to do their worst.  Yes, women too.  What kind of woman would send their son out with bombs strapped to their body?  What kind of woman would go on national TV and brag about having more babies to be martyrs for Allah?  Women, willing to sacrifice their own children to the god of war and to Moloch the god of fire.

The ultimate demands of their leaders is insane – the complete and utter annihilation of the State and people of Israel – this is the treat they want, this is the answer to their problems.  If that is not a Satanic ambition then what is?  

Satan is among us and he still asks this question, "What is man but a piece of dirt.  Why should God ever care about him?"  

You have read the answer, and so, when this question ever comes up you can know in your heart, unworthy as we are, by the Blood of YaHshua, we are destined to be made into more than dirt, we are to inherit the Kingdom of God, because we are His Children.  
  
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