ONE great result which God has made known to us in His word, respecting Himself by all His works, is that “the invisible things of Him” from the creation 'of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even " His eternal power and Godhead." Indeed, it is this very fact, which creates responsibility in this Adam-world, and leaves mankind “without excuse, for not glorifying God as God."
This material system may, therefore, be viewed as the great outward sphere of His display in wisdom and power, by all that He has wrought Creatorially therein to make Himself known, and by what He has done, and is doing, and will yet do governmentally with it, as " the Judge of the whole earth." He works out His own ways, amidst all the confusions and delusions amongst men in this world, whilst Satan, the usurper, is its prince, and allowed to be at large thereon; and it is in this light, “the shell," which, nevertheless, holds the germ. The kernel (if we may so say) lies in this, that God has likewise revealed in His word the fact of His internally working out in it (though in mystery) all His secret counsels in Christ, for " the glory of God and his elect," in new creation power, and under another life and headship (with their divine relations) in the Second Man. The scale of this work, is “according to the riches of his grace, wherein he hath abounded towards us, in all wisdom and prudence," and all such can say, as being in this secret of God, " old things are passed away, and all things are become new." These walk by faith, and not by sight, and look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen—" knowing that the things which are seen are temporal." God has likewise brought out from Egypt. by the hand of Moses a people for His name, and these are the Israel of Jehovah; moreover, He is ordering the world externally in government in reference to this people, and will again gather them together out of the four corners of the earth as a nucleus for the earthly and millennial blessing; " Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit." Obedience and dependence produce confidence; and these were normally the existing mad necessary elements in the creature, for any and all enjoyment, and intercourse with God from the beginning. This, Adam realized when he stood in innocency, and in the unsullied image of Him that created him.
In an unfallen creation where " all was good," even up to the standard of what suited the Creator, for " His own rest "-such a perfect order of things, and such a state as this existed in Eden, though but for a while, and was, alas, speedily turned into a vanishing point, which declared tile distance of Adam's moral departure from God. Life and liberty and happiness grew up together, and were then found and enjoyed in the presence of God, without any let or hindrance to the outcome of all the powers, and capacity for blessing in the creature. Before Satan and evil came in, and when God could, and did bless everything as He finished it, there was no occasion for any check to the energy, and outflow of all that was in the mind and heart of man, and which made him, in body, soul, and spirit, capable of unmingled joy and gladness before God, in the midst of everything that was made.
But more than this, yea much more—the primary object of God in creation, was His own satisfaction and delight, in all the living intelligencies, whether angelic or human, by whom He was surrounded, and of whom He was the supreme and self existent center. Nothing short of His own glory, in all that He fashioned and made, was daily before Him, and thus even " the crowned elders" in the Apocalyptic -future, celebrate their Creator, saying, " for thy pleasure they are, and were created." What a source of blessing was this to every creature that could and would only live, because “the living God " lives. What a warrant and spring of joy to all in the heavens, and upon the earth, was God's own delight in the works of His hands, and what a guarantee was this, for all besides!
By the work of the six days of Gen. 1, the first five (wonderful as they were in their order and progression) were but prefatory to the bringing in of the representative Adam of the sixth day, who was “made in the likeness of God." All these six were only preparatory in their turn, and necessary to introduce, and then give place. to, that masterpiece and seal to all time, in the seventh day, or " the Sabbath of rest " which God sanctified for Himself. Thus, at the onset of this terrestrial Genesis, the outer creation was formed, and made to hold these sacred and glorious deposits of the sixth and seventh days for the Creator and for the image-man, who was after all of the earth and earthly. Principalities, and powers in the heavenly places, viewed these great and stupendous actings as further proofs of the majesty, and supremacy, of Him who made them, when “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." The Creator rested from the works of His hands, and found a rest for Himself in them. The creation was then God's rest, and will be so for the Jehovah-Messiah's millennial rest-though postponed (because violated by sin) and “groaning therefore at present under the bondage of corruption." Yet, nevertheless, “there remaineth a rest for God " with His redeemed people, and with those whom He will ransom from the grave, when this great external shell, which holds their dust, shall be called " to deliver up the dead " which are therein.
If we pursue our theme of “the shell and the kernel," it will be necessary to quit this first circle of an unfallen creation, and its seven days' developments, in order to learn other lessons from the historical heavens and earth, in their connections with " the fall of man," and the righteous government of God on account of sin. Such paths as we may have to follow (strange as they are, because of this awful rupture), ought not to be foreign, in their general outline at least, to any who have began to learn God in " his ways," towards the children of men, from the closing up of paradise-and more especially since "the translation of Enoch," out from its corruption, " before the flood." The grand principles of individual obedience and dependance (as we have already said) were essential for communion with God at any, and at all times, as well as for holding fast the subsequent testimony to Himself, through dispensed truth, which He has now committed to men. These principles are only embodied, as they are carried out a step further, and put into their proper form in us by some veritable act of separation from evil, and in the true confession of holiness, which are due to God. This was eminently so with Enoch, when the great external shell of " the world that then was," yielded out its first ripe fruit, in the man who walked with God upon it, and who carried about " the inward testimony that he pleased him." The one of that era “was translated, that he should not see death." Adam's earth which was of old, with its inhabitants, perished by the deluge, only yielding eight souls as the nucleus of another formation. They went into the ark with Noah, out of that world of judgment, till the appointed time for them to come forth upon the next, as a new company under " the rainbow of God's sure covenant " in blessing. Moreover, in following out this external history of creation, as under the government of God, we find that “the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." In fact, the 2nd Epistle of Peter puts the created heavens and earth (because of sin) whether before the deluge, or since, into one vast dissolving view; and then reveals " a new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness," and in which the tabernacle of God shall once again, and forever, be with men. “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be... looking for, and hasting to the coming of the days of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat."
By such records as these, and from other Scriptures, we are taught that the heavens and the earth, and the elements, are viewed simply as a great and external shell, for the manifestation of God in His majesty, and providential goodness, to an Adam-creation, and then to a Noah-world, by which He " giveth to all, life and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth. He hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitations, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him and find him: “and escape, through faith in Christ, out of its condemnation and coming judgment. The majesty and goodness of God were the attributes which he displayed in the first circle of creation, whereas redemption, as declared in the salvation of Noah, and all who were in the ark, out from the waters of death and of judgment, was displayed in this second circle, or " the world that now is." Again, in the first circle, God had manifested His wondrous actings as Creator, and formed a Sabbath of rest for Himself and a paradise for Adam, in the midst of a great celestial and terrestrial system, in which “God rested and was refreshed." Redemption was afterward brought out, and established in a still fuller way, by the deliverance of the nation of Israel, as the chosen people of God, out from the cruel bondage of Pharaoh in Egypt. Of this redemption, the great and external Adam-world has become historically the object and witness, and ever will be, for the accomplishment of all the precious promises in blessing to Noah, and mankind likewise, and to the twelve tribes, together with the Gentile nations. This will be manifested in the bright millennial days of their future glory, with Messiah in “the city of the great king," or, as the Son of Man, when He sits upon His own throne in righteous rule over the world.
But we must now take another view, and a far grander one, of the purposes of God to be wrought out in, and by “the Son of His own love," in what we have compared to the kernel. These great and external heavens and earth, or the shell, did not express His secret purpose, or disclose His hidden counsel of "Christ, and the Church," though creation might, and did contain this kernel, or mystery, and wrap it up.
If we would become acquainted with these “deep things of God," which lay hidden in Himself, we must pass from these outward circles of God's ways, whether in creation or government, by which He is carrying out His intentions on the earth, for His own glory with His chosen people Israel, and enter " the garden which the Lord God planted." It was here He wrought according to His Godhead counsel, and brought to light His hidden purpose in the mystic man; and the further one of a second Adam, as the beginning of the new creation of God, and “Head over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all." How divinely and differently God wrought out these counsels, may well occupy us! These purposes which were fore-ordained from " before the foundation of the world," but have been manifested in these last times for us, and wrought out by the Holy Ghost come down from the ascended and glorified Son of man. In the garden we behold Him, as in a sacred enclosure, working by the mystery of Adam's sleep (outside nature), that He might draw forth the mysterious rib from his opened side," out of which to fashion and form the woman, as an help-meet for the man; " and set up in type the master piece of Christ and the Church. It was to Adam she was brought by the Creator for a Bride, and as the completion of the mystic mart, that " they might be one flesh," as the last, and crowning act of divine wisdom, and power, and glory.
And now, we may ask, what did these inner acts and deeds in." the garden” pre-figure, which the great outward world could not? What but the coming forth of the " second man " who was ordained from everlasting to descend into these " lower parts of the earth," to purchase and redeem it, and pass through His deeper sleep of death to gain His bride, and finally lead her forth by resurrection unto His own eternal glory. It was He alone who could change the sepulcher of sleep in His garden of Cedron into a birth-place; and on the morning of that third day, come forth as "the first born Son" in resurrection," the head of His body," the bridegroom, and " the beginning of the [new] creation of God." Again, what do all these silent, and inner acts, and deeds, mean when taken out of type, and figure, by the Holy Ghost, after this deep sleep in the womb of the earth—and then passing up into connection with the glorified Son of Man, at the right hand of God? What further can such works (curiously wrought out, in the darkness of the grave in death, and then illuminated by " the right hand of the Father" in glory) proclaim to us but the fulfillment of that blessed pattern, of the man and the woman set up before the fall—or, " the great mystery," of Christ and the Church, to be seen in the coming glory of the Father and the Son?
If we have come out to learn God as one with Christ, not only in the first circle of Adam and his creation, with its Sabbath of rest-nor merely in the second circle, by a world after the flood, bright with its rainbow pledges, and covenants of promise to Noah, and the Patriarchs, and to Israel—but likewise in the inner circle of the planted garden and its mysteries—we shall find this disclosure can only be known by the revelation made to us by God in His word, and by being born again of the Spirit. " This is life eternal to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent "—and such are sanctified by the truth, and waiting to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air, &c. Liberty from the flesh and the world and the power of Satan, by our death and resurrection with Christ, are thus found through redemption—and by the gift of eternal life in the power of the Holy Ghost.
It is this transformation which separates us from our fellow-men, and is properly the birth-right and blessing of every believer in Christ. These peculiarities mark the state and ground on which we are set " before God our Father," as new creatures, by our union in life and righteousness with the Lord Jesus. We are thus born of God, and not of this world, but " translated out of darkness into light." It is only when so standing in grace, with " Christ the hope of glory" full 'before us, and in us, as our new stand-point, that we are able to look at everything above and below in the light of divine truth. We then learn our first, and early lessons of faith, by which “we call things that are not as though they were "—and growingly live in the power of " things not seen which are eternal." Consistently with this, as believers in Christ, we are called out from this present evil world, to walk " as beloved children" with God, under the anointing of the Holy Ghost; though we may be hidden in our turn for " a little while " in it, like men (as we have said) that wait for the coming of their Lord. It is true that the style and character of this life, and our walk with God (as such) must vary, and has become diverse-according to the name, and the relations, in which He may have declared Himself to one and another, throughout the varying dispensations, and the pathway therein, which He takes with His elect. " The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ " is the name in which He is revealed to us, whom He is now " calling out into fellowship," by the Holy Ghost, into another creation, in the second Adam at His right hand in heaven, and a new order of things, " kept secret from before the world was." We are coming historically to the close of the seven thousand years of old-creation reckoning, with all its characteristic responsibilities, and expectations. “The end of all things is at hand," and Babylon with the Gentiles must speedily go down into the dust, because " the time to favor Zion " is at hand, when Jerusalem and Israel " will arise and put on their beautiful garments," and pass once more into their highest places of dignity and glory under the sun, and shine brighter than in the days of Solomon.
We, too, who are of " the planted garden," are passing out of the mystery form, into its accomplishments in the other and new creation, for " if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature " even now; and to such an one, " old things are passed away; and all things are become new," as headed up in Christ, at the right hand of God. These peculiarities of our heavenly calling, may have made it difficult for some Christians to connect the original principle of our separation from this present world (to walk with God, as the translated Enoch did)—with the practical confession of Christi anity to a rejected Christ below, and a glorified Lord in heaven. This path"(for the man of God now) is the more difficult to the uninitiated, because they find even the “wind and sea contrary," and they are themselves against the course of everything, and every one is against them, for " His name's sake." Moreover, this is felt the more acutely in a time of declension like the present, as regards those who stood for a while in the truth of this confession of Christ rejected below, and glorified above, but have become weary "in well doing," and lost the power and joy of the blessed hope of the Church. Nevertheless, this demand is made on the faithful, by “Him that is holy and true," yea, even to stand apart from the ripening apostacy of these last days, in the actual possession " of gold tried in the fire," and that they should be clad in white raiment. God will presently, in supreme power and righteousness, take all into His own hands, and make the heavens which had long ago received the ascended Son of Man, open themselves out in like manner, as the pathway and home for the glorified Church with her Head and Lord. Meanwhile, the Holy Ghost is upon earth to form it!
The counsels of God in their full accomplishment and manifested glory, will then find their perfection in the administration of the fullness of times,—" when all things shall be gathered together in one, even in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him." The new order of manhood in Christ, and the new creation of which He is the beginning and Head, will be established eternally. “In
whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will; that we should be to the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ."
The new creation, with its heavens and earth, will ever after contain, and manifest to perfection from their new center—the kernel—which the old or former creation once had held, though hidden, till the opening mystery of "God manifest in the flesh." It failed to appreciate or retain Him, as He passed along through it, in the light of promise and prophecy, and purpose, but in the veiled glory of His manhood, that He might thereby descend into the lower parts of the earth, to win all back for Himself, and for the glory of God, by His mysterious sleep in death, and hold it by His triumphant resurrection at the right hand of the Father.