Meditation on the Text of the Week

Caretakers and Heirs: Both Have Rights

When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers,
The moon and the stars which Thou hast ordained;
What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him?
And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?
Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God,
And dost crown him with glory and majesty!
Thou dost make him to rule over the works of Thy hands;
Thou hast put all things under his feet.
Psalm 8: 3—6

When the entire human race fell into sin through Adam, the marvel was that all mankind was not obliterated on the spot. Such a comprehensive destructive judgment would have been holy, just, and good. The soul that sins, it shall die, says the Law. Mankind in its entirety was from that time under sin and the sentence of death.

Yet, for reasons known only to God, He determined that a new human race would be perfected out of the vitiated, ruined, and blighted detritus that remained. This new, perfected human race would have a new Head. Adam was dethroned as the head; a new human race would be created around a new Head—even Jesus, our Lord.

This meant that there were now going to be two human races: the first had its head in Satan—called the Seed of the Serpent; the second had its head in Christ, called the Seed of the Woman. (Genesis 3:15) Eventually, the Seed of the Woman would overcome and crush the Seed of the Serpent. The second race would come out of the first. The first-born and Head of this new race was to be the Lord Jesus Christ. He atoned for, and cleansed all the sin of all His people—the new human race. This second human race, eventually the only one which shall remain, is now working under its Head to subdue, restrain, grow, and develop the entire creation. The old creation is being re-created anew by the Lord and His people.

The first human race, the Seed of the Serpent, belongs to the old order and is passing away. Eventually, it will be completely gone—reaching the state of obliteration that has been pending and yet long delayed ever since the first sin of Adam. But they have been useful in their time—for a season. It has pleased the Lord to use the Seed of the Serpent to maintain the human race, to maintain some semblance of order over the creation and human society, until they become redundant and are replaced by the new human race descended from the Second Adam.

This means that even Unbelievers are the servants of God, although they know it not, nor will it to be so. Despite themselves, they do His bidding and will and serve His purposes. They act as caretakers throughout history, progressively being replaced by the true heirs, the new human race, led by Jesus the Lord—until finally they are removed and the Lord and His people inherit the entire earth. At this time, finally, all enemies of God will have been placed under His feet.

This biblical world-view, this sweep of history, provides the only foundation for human society: for justice, for ethics, for judgment, for rights, and for freedom. It demands that all mankind is granted privileges and rights for the sovereign Lord has declared that it be so. The Seed of the Serpent has been granted these rights (protection of life and property) temporarily while they carry out their role in the earth as temporary caretakers. The Seed of the Woman has been granted these rights in perpetuity—for eternity—for Christ has won the right to grant them, His people, eternal life.

Man was originally made in the very image of God, only a little lower than God. He was originally crowned with glory and majesty. All this was vitiated and lost when he fell, through Adam, into sin. But it pleased God to allow mankind to keep vestiges of his original glory: for some, they would keep the vestiges temporarily while judgement was prorogued while they acted as caretakers on the earth; for others, the vestiges of glory remained until Christ came forth to cleanse, perfect, and re-create them after His own perfect image.

As we live in this historical dynamic of ever-unfolding redemption and coming inheritance in Christ, God's people are thankful for the functions of caretaking performed by Unbelievers ultimately for their sake and inheritance. Therefore, they treat all men with respect, for the Lord's sake. They call all men--regardless of race, tribe, creed, or profession--to turn from their Unbelief and to come, serve the Living Saviour. Yet, while being servants to all men, they also strive and work diligently for Christ alone, hastening the day when the last enemy, Death shall be abolished and they will enter into the full inheritance that Christ has prepared for them that love Him.

That inheritance is to enjoy a new heavens and a new earth, to participate in a new, glorified, perfected, sinless human race, and to be with the Lord, our beloved Saviour forever.

O Lord, our Lord,
How majestic is Thy name in all the earth!