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Fruits of Fundamental Studies.
#12.
The Sphere of Man's Dominion.
pp. 15 - 19
It is evident that the present creation, vast as it is, finds its focus in man, in spite of the
fact that, compared with that creation, he is infinitesimally small. The Psalmist gives
utterance to this truth when he says:
"When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars,
which Thou has ordained; what is man?" (Psa. 8: 3, 4).
The vastness of creation is placed over against the insignificance of man.
The
Psalmist continues:
"Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory
and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thine hands"
(Psa. 8: 5, 6).
Here man is viewed as crowned in the midst of created things. We shall have to return
later to the consideration of what man's dominion involves, but for the moment let us get
some idea of man and his setting, the world of nature. The universe, of which the world
of nature is a part, comprises "things invisible" as well as "things visible" (Col. 1: 16).
For the time being, man is "a little lower than the angels" (Heb. 2: 7 margin), and the
invisible spirit world is not his legitimate sphere (Col. 2: 18). He is warned, however,
against the false deduction, that what is most evident to his senses must necessarily be the
most real, for "the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen
are aionion" (II Cor. 4: 18). He must remember that "existence is essence clothed with
form" (Tiberglein), but that form is not essential to the perfection of being. As we read in
John 5: 37: "Ye have neither heard His voice, nor seen His (the Father's) shape."
There are many passages of Scripture that teach us to view the "fashion of the world"
as we would the shifting scenes of a theatre.
"The fashion of this world passeth away" (I Cor. 7: 31).
"The world passeth away" (I John 2: 17).
Something of the truth of this was perceived and expressed by our own great poet:
"The great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this substantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind" (Tempest 4: 1).
Those things that are shakeable are destined to be removed; only those things that are
unshakeable will abide. These abiding things belong to the Kingdom of God, and to the