"The Second Man"

(Thanks to Jamey for inspiration on this one.)

 

    Many of you may have likely read the Internet story that recounts Astronaut Buzz Aldrin partaking of the Lord's supper on the moon.  It's a fascinating event, particularly when you consider that Commander Aldrin was the second man to ever walk on the moon.

 

    "And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven" (I Corinthians 15:45-47).

 

    Adam and the Lord Jesus are the representative federal heads of two races.  The first man Adam is the physical, earthly father of every human being ever born (other than Christ).  The Apostle Paul declares Adam to be an "earthy" man, that is, his distrusting and disobeying of God plunged Adam and his race into a carnal existence in which the natural rather than the supernatural comprises the source and environment in which we are born and exist.  "Dust thou art" (Genesis 3:19).

 

    Conversely, the Lord Jesus is the second man, the Lord from Heaven.  His Father is God, and while He possessed a tangible physical body, He lived by the power of God because He trusted and submitted Himself to His Father.  Those who trust in the saving grace made possible by Christ's death and resurrection are born into the spiritual race of this second man, becoming themselves heavenly constituted and empowered.  "God... hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4; 6). 

 

    History records that Buzz Aldrin could have been the first man to set foot on the moon, and desired to do so.  However, the positioning of Neil Armstrong and Aldrin in the Apollo 11 space capsule made it easier for Armstrong to exit the vehicle first.  Thus, Aldrin became the second man rather than the first man to walk on the moon.  And thus, the second man to set foot on another heavenly body remembered and honored the Second Man who Himself had created the moon (Genesis 1:16; John 1:10).  It is a sublime thought, and I don't think I'll ever view the moon in quite the same way after having learned of Aldrin's obviously Spirit-led and inspired act.

 

    Those who don't see God working in history quite simply aren't looking.  As the saying goes, history is His Story.  If our eyes are open, light will fill our being in such measure that we will often find ourselves bowing head and heart to give thanks for so present and dynamic a Lord.  Be it on earth, or moon, or some far away galaxy beyond our physical vision, God is at hand...

 

"In Thy light shall we see light."

(Psalm 36:9)