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No.18.
Why Adam?
Why a little lower than the angels?
pp. 54 - 57
In the fifty-third chapter of the prophet of Isaiah we read:
"He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hand. He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied"
(Isa. 53: 10, 11).
He shall SEE two things. "His seed" and "the travail of His soul". The consequences
being that He shall PROLONG His days, the PLEASURE of the Lord shall PROSPER,
and He Himself shall be SATISFIED. Here we have related together `seed', and
`satisfaction', and a purpose achieved in resurrection. Let us see what justification there
is for such expressions, and let us work backwards through this passage, taking the last
term first, `satisfied'. It is the testimony of Scripture that true satisfaction cannot be
experienced in this life (Eccles. 1: 8; 4: 8) but that this more blessed state will be
attained at the resurrection.
"I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy likeness" (Psa. 17: 15).
The association of the words `prosper' and `seed' may not be very obvious to us at
this remote period, but let it be remembered that Jeremiah had written concerning the
wicked king:
"Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days: for no man of
his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah"
(Jer. 22: 30).
In contrast with Coniah, the Saviour shall see His seed, and shall prosper. Again,
`pleasure' is associated with `prospering', and so in Jer. 22: 28 we read of Coniah:
"Is he a vessel wherein is no pleasure? Wherefore are they cast out, he and his seed."
Resurrection, however, is at the end rather than at the beginning of the purpose of the
ages, and we must retrace our steps so that we can understand something of the reason
that make such a goal necessary. Let us go back to the period called `before the
foundation of the world' which we believe to refer to Gen. 1: 1, but which all will accept
as being before the advent of man on the earth. Before man, the Lord chose those who
are to constitute the Church of the One Body in Christ, and He chose them that they
should be blessed with every blessing that is spiritual, and enjoy them in heavenly places.
If we had no knowledge of the purpose of the ages and its outworking, we might have
thought that having thus chosen this company when the time came, that God would have
called them into being `holy and without blemish', placed them in heavenly places,
endowed them with all spiritual blessings and secured them in Christ. What He did,
however, was vastly different. After geological ages had passed since Gen. 1: 1 He
brought into being a man Adam, who being flesh and blood and of the earth earthy, could