The Way of the Wise - Proverbs
12 - What Kind of Man is This?
This time we are discovering Proverbs 8:22 to 36. We are asking a question that the disciples asked in Matthew 8:27. After Jesus had stilled a storm on the lake they said, “What kind of man is this?” You will remember that in an earlier lesson in this series we discovered that where we read of ‘wisdom’ in the book of Proverbs, we are reading about God and about the Lord Jesus Christ. Wisdom’s characteristics are the characteristics of the Lord. Verse 12 of this chapter begins with the words, “I wisdom” and there follows a description of what wisdom is and what wisdom does. This is continued in the verses we are looking at. We are going to discover four wonderful facts about wisdom that can be applied to the Lord Jesus Christ and which will help us to answer that question of the disciples: “What kind of man is this?” (Matthew 8:27).
First of all we see that the wisdom which is from God is as eternal as He is. Here is a picture of the eternal being and deity of Christ. This is in verses 22 and 23 where we read, “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old; I was appointed from eternity from the beginning before the world began.” This statement does not mean that Christ was created when God created everything else, but that He has always existed. John, at the beginning of his Gospel, puts it like this, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the word was God ... And the Word became flesh and lived among us ...” The eternal Word became the Eternal son. Of course, the inspired writer here is using language that we can understand to convey deep spiritual truths. Christ, the Eternal Word, was there before the world’s creation and before the beginning of time. He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. In the eternal councils of God He was appointed, or anointed, to be the wisdom and power of the Father and to be light of life in the creation of the world and the redemption of his people.
Christ was appointed before creation for the work of redemption, and this Scripture is setting all this before us in this passage in a whole variety of ways. It tells us that before the oceans were created, Christ was there; it says that before the earth was created, before man was created Christ was there. Therefore, the last Adam, that is Christ, was there before the first Adam who was made of the earth. This explains the words of Jesus in John chapter 3:31, where he says “The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth, and the one who comes from Heaven is above all” - and of course He is referring to himself. So in verses 24 and 25 we are told that He was before the creation of the oceans, the mountains and the hills. When Eliphaz asked Job, “Were you brought forth before the hills?” (Job 15:7), he was showing Job his sheer inability to understand God’s great wisdom. So, in this very remarkable passage in the Old Testament we have a lovely picture of the deity of Christ and of the wonderful truth of his eternal being.
Secondly we see “Christ’s design” - in verses 27 to 29. The writer says in verse 27, “I was there when he set the heavens in place, when he marked out the horizon on the face of the deep.” This is a very interesting verse because the word “marked out” means to circle. It is the same word that is used in Isaiah chapter 14:22, “He (that is God) sits enthroned above the circle of the earth”. There are other references in the Old Testament pointing to the roundness of the earth, especially the spherical nature of the sea level which defines the global shape of the earth. In other words, the Bible never teaches a flat earth. How could these ancient writers be so scientifically accurate apart from the revelation of God Himself? The Lord Jesus Christ could say, “I was there at the beginning of creation.” Christ was the great architect. He was no mere spectator in the creation of the universe for, as John again tells us, “All things were made by Him and without Him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:3). Do you remember how God silenced and humbled Job after all his trials and testings? He said to Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4). Of course, Job could not answer such a question, but Christ, the eternal Word, the eternal Son, can say “I was there”.
The third thing we learn about Christ in this section is “His delight”. We see it in verses 30 and 31: “I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence.” In his prayer in John 17:5 the Lord Jesus said to his Father, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” Here is the closeness of the Son and the Father. In Isaiah 42:1 we read, “Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight.” Here is a glimpse of the infinite delight of the Father in his dear son. Christians have been “rescued (by God the Father) from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of the Son He loves” (Colossians 1:13).
The delight of Christ is also expressed in the great work of creation. We read in Psalm 104:31, “May the glory of the Lord endure forever, may the Lord rejoice in his works.” And in verse 31 of our chapter we are told that He rejoices in his whole world and delights in mankind. How very wonderful to think that God should delight in people like you and me with all our sins and failures. Yes, the Lord delights in those whom He has forgiven and brought to Himself. Do we delight ourselves in Him?
The fourth thing we see about Christ in this passage is “His great deliverance”. In verses 32 to 36 we find the word “listen”. “Now then, my sons, listen to me, blessed are those who keep my ways. Listen to my instruction and be wise, do not ignore it.” “Listen to my instruction”, he says, “blessed is the man who listens to me.” Three times the Lord says “listen”. And as we listen there is this promise of deliverance in verse 35: “For whoever finds me finds life and receives favour from the Lord.” Of all the voices in the world, listen to this one; listen to Christ for He is the wisdom of God; He is the source of all light and knowledge; He is the king of kings and He is the loving rewarder of his children. We can see all these things in Proverbs 8, and his blessing is upon all those who listen to Him, who keep his ways, who love Him, who obey Him, who worship Him and thirst for Him. Here then is Godly fear, here is the deity, the design, the delight and the deliverance of the Lord Jesus. What kind of man is this? He is the Christ, the eternal Son of the living God.