7. Walking by Faith.
AFTER the flood, God set His bow in the cloud for His eye to gaze upon, and said, “I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.” The earth now abides under this covenant, the rainbow arching the storm-cloud, and the blacker the storm the brighter the promise written over it. This promise to the earth and its inhabitants is based upon sacrifice, for” the Lord smelled a savor of rest” (Gen. 8:2121And the Lord smelled a sweet savor; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. (Genesis 8:21)―margin) arising from Noah’s altar, upon which this His covenant was made.
But though the earth might henceforth bear her fruit, man’s heart remained unchanged. The judgment of the flood did not amend human nature, nor teach succeeding generations the folly of sin. Presently men combined together to build up a great name for themselves by the means of a tower whose top should reach to heaven, thus asserting human greatness in defiance of God.
In Adam’s days, the Lord came down to Eden to see the man whom He had made, and He found him departed from Himself, hiding amongst the trees of paradise; and the Lord God cast man out of paradise to labor and die on the earth, and thus has it been with each individual born on the earth since man’s fall―the earth is not his home. In the days after the flood, the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men builded; and He confounded their common speech, and divided their one language, and scattered them abroad upon the face of all the earth. From that day to the present, the various families of the earth have been divided and scattered from each other. But it is in every man’s heart to form himself a home here! Who does not fondly seek to do so, and who does not become in the end disappointed and heartbroken, as death and sorrow enter his doors? Also, the great men of the world have sought in succeeding centuries to establish a kingdom on the earth, and to build up upon it a central name and power, but their kingdoms are either destroyed or are growing up like forest trees, to decay and perish.
In our own time, there is a great revival of the spirit which led to the building of Babel; there is a mighty effort for combination, proceeding amongst the masses of men, which, slowly but surely, gains ground. The cry for union is heard even amongst such as are scattered from each other by interests as well as by language. The end will surely be a vast union and combination in defiance of God and with the purpose to exalt man, but as it was with Babel of old, so will it be with the Babylon yet to arise, divine judgment will fall upon it. The Babel of Genesis and the Babylon of Revelation are alike in purpose, in rebellion against God, and in their eventual destruction.
Let us, in the light of the aspirations of our own times, consider the men of the olden days. The spirit of the city and of the tower were filling their hearts, and as we picture the past, a light sheds itself upon the thoughts and till course of the father of the faithful. He lived outside the spirit of that day, of its growing kingdoms, its grand desires for human greatness, and of its idolatry, for he “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb. 11:1010For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:10).) Abraham’s mind, as that of the believer’s today, was filled through faith with a greater conception than that of the world. Everlasting stability, everlasting rest, both the work of God for man were before his eyes. To him “the God of glory appeared” (Acts 7:22And he said, Men, brethren, and fathers, hearken; The God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran, (Acts 7:2)), and when a sight by faith of the God of glory is before the soul of a saint, the glory of this world dissolves into vanity.
We greatly err if we regard the things of God as on a level with those of the world. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him”―they are beyond and above all human powers of conception― “but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” (1 Cor. 2:9, 109But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9‑10).) The God of glory, by His promises to the father of the faithful, filled Abraham with hope, and made him a pilgrim and a stranger on earth. And such still is the way of God with His people, for as their hearts are filled with heavenly things by the Spirit, so are they practically “partakers of the heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:11Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; (Hebrews 3:1)), and strangers and pilgrims here. All God’s people are actually partakers of the heavenly calling, but to be heavenly, according to our calling, we need to have our souls filled with heavenly things, which the revelation of God has unveiled.
Our lives are formed by our hope, and our hope is the result of our faith in God’s word. No man becomes a child of faith save by faith, and to try to become strangers and pilgrims here, without having our hearts filled with the glory of divine things, is but a vain attempt. Even in earthly things a man is a pilgrim and a stranger in foreign lands by reason of his home, and the stronger his desire to reach home, and the greater his love for home, the more verily is he a pilgrim and a stranger in the foreign land. And as the “city which hath foundations,” as “the Father’s house,” yes, that special Place there prepared by the loving hand of Jesus Himself, are present to our hearts, so do our lives assume the pilgrim and stranger character.
God shows us in the combined uprising of the world after the flood, man determined on establishing his glory and his name on the earth. He also shows His hidden answer to this, even in the heavenly city which hath foundations, and in His glory revealed to the child of faith.
There is certainly a lesson to be learned from the way God is acting in our own times amongst His people. Every day has its own peculiar spiritual difficulties, and God has His way of guiding His people in their day of difficulty. He is now leading the thoughts, and hearts too, of many to the coming of His Son from heaven. Glory thus beams before them, and with this heavenly brightness present to the eye, the world fades into its true character.
We may well seek for grace to pursue the pilgrim path trodden by Abraham of old, for he, when “called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” (Heb. 11:88By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. (Hebrews 11:8).) None the less distinctly than was he, are we called to our heavenly home; it is for us each one to obey God’s word. God calls, let us obey, and may it be recorded of us, they “went out, not knowing whither they went.” Such a record of a life is worthy indeed―He followed at the bidding of God’s word, and left consequences with Him.