But one in a certain place testifieth, saying What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Hebrews 2:6
A man is driving through a wooded area, and comes to a fork in the road. The road to the left continues on through the woods, and the signpost indicates that this road will take him to his destination. The road to the right goes off across a lovely valley with beautiful meadows. But a huge sign is posted saying, ‘Danger! Bridge Out!’ The man clearly has a choice to make. There is nothing particularly attractive about the left road, except that it will take him where he is going. There is an appeal to the right road, with its beautiful scenery and sunny outlook. But it comes with a warning. Assume the man takes the left road. He eventually gets to where he wants to go. Assume the man takes the right road. He enjoys the lovely scenery for awhile, but suddenly his car plunges into the fast-flowing waters of a river. His car is lost, and his life is saved only because a local farmer saw him taking the dangerous road and followed him to the broken bridge and pulled him to safety. We say the decision to take the left road was wise. We say the decision to take the right road was foolish. We might say that the man making the foolish decision deserved what he received. But the farmer rescued him anyway. God did that for Adam, and for us, after Adam made the foolish decision to take the perilous road.
Just like the Bridge Out sign in our story, God clearly warned Adam against eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The warning was not about a danger, it was about a certainty: eat = die. Adam and his wife ate. And they died. It took awhile – Adam is the second oldest man mentioned in the Bible – but they died. But God intervened. As the guilty pair left the Garden of Eden, He covered their nakedness with coats of skins. Animals died to provide coverings for them. From that point, animals died to provide a means for Adam and his tribe to obtain forgiveness for their foolish and deadly decisions. The law was given, defining God’s holy and perfect standard, and providing for sacrifices for man’s inability to meet God’s standard. For four thousand years, a promise existed that One would come to restore the relationship that Adam lost through his foolish decision. And He came. But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:4-5). How good of God to do that for us!
So we come to our text, and its question: What is man, that Thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou visitest him? What did God ever see in us that caused Him to take pity on us, and to rescue us from the river of destruction into which our foolish decisions had plunged us? We have no one to blame but ourselves. We can’t even blame Adam, although it was Adam’s sin that brought sin into the world (Romans 5:12). That same verse in Romans tells us that we all deserve death because we all sinned, just like Adam did. The Gospel is God’s lifeline that is available to sinful man today to pull us from destruction. The Gospel is forged in the love of God. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
Look in a mirror and ask why God would save such a foolish sinner. Then, look into the Bible and read of God’s wondrous love. – Jim MacIntosh