How lovely was the earth as first created, how beautiful were man and woman, masterpieces fresh from the hand of their Creator. But just as a great catastrophe wrecked the original creation, and rendered the work of reconstruction necessary, until God could pronounce His handiwork very good, so man fell and sinned, rendering necessary the work of redemption and of the Spirit of God, till the new creation flawless and perfect shall arise in all its beauty and glory, and be established forever.
The first step taken in the reconstruction of this earth is given in the following words, " And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." This is the first particular mention of one of the three Persons of the Trinity-Father, Son and Spirit, one God, one in will, purpose, power, knowledge, wisdom. The Spirit of God is the great moving force throughout Scripture-the unseen sovereign Power, carrying out the will of the Godhead.
Just as the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the deep, so it is the Spirit of God that produces the new beginning in man, that is necessary, if God has to do with man for his eternal blessing. Just as the original creation, wrecked and chaotic, needed an outside omnipotent power for the work of reconstruction, so sinful man needs an outside omnipotent power to lay hold of him, change him, and bring him into reconciliation with God.
How astonished Nicodemus must have been, a. minister of the synagogue, a man of repute and blameless life, to be told by our Lord, " Ye must be born again " (John 3:7).
We could have more readily understood these words being addressed to the woman at Sychar's well, that wretched sinner, living in open sin, with a hectic career of sin and shame behind her. But it would have lost much of its force, if that had been so. Addressed to a man of Nicodemus' stamp they come with tremendous force. The very best in fallen man will not do for God.
And how does the new birth come about? Just as the Spirit of God moved in Sovereign will upon' the face of the waters, so now "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit " (John 3:8). The natural man dislikes the truth of the sovereignty of God, for it makes nothing of man. His will is not consulted. But if the Spirit of God had not moved in the reconstruction of the chaotic earth, it would have remained in that condition forever. And if the Spirit of God had not taken the very first step with sinners, who are dead in trespasses and sins, we should all have remained unregenerate and sitting in darkness.
And yet there is a wide difference between the two actions of the Spirit of God. In the former God was pleased to take the material of the wreckage of the original creation, and use it in the great work of reconstruction, and form it anew. But in the case of sinful man, God does not, and cannot, use the old material.
Nicodemus might have thought, "Is there nothing in me fit for God to use? Has all my testimony in the synagogue, my blameless life to go for naught?" Hard lesson indeed to be learned, but until it is learned in the soul there is no progress in divine knowledge. Our Lord said emphatically to Nicodemus, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit " (John 3:6). Without this new birth there can be no entrance into God's kingdom.
The Apostle Paul learned this lesson well. He, who as touching the righteousness of the law was blameless, had a revealing sight of himself as in God's presence when the light above the brightness of the sun struck him down on the road to Damascus. In the light of that experience he wrote, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners: OF WHOM I AM CHIEF " (1 Tim. 1:55). Have we all learned this salutary and necessary lesson?