NOTHING, unless it be personal salvation and the communion of the soul with our God, can be of greater importance, or of higher interest for the Christian, than the testimony which God has given to Himself in this world of darkness. After all, salvation and communion depend on this testimony. What would the state of man be without this testimony? What is his state where this testimony has not penetrated? What an immense privilege to possess the thoughts of God Himself, above all with regard to that which concerns us morally, to be in relationship with God through means of the communication of His thoughts, to be called His friends and to enjoy this privilege as a matter of fact by the possession of the truest, the most intimate testimonies of His thoughts and His affections! And observe that, man being the great object of His affections, these develop themselves in the ways of God with regard to man—ways which even the angels desire to look into.
In fact, man, according to the wisdom of God, is the being with regard to whom the character of God, and all His moral ways unfold themselves most completely and in the most perfect and admirable way. It is not, by any means, the intellectual capacity of man, nor his moral power, which renders him so fit for this, because it is not the judgment which he can form of what God is, that is capable of revealing God—without even taking into account the fall of man. This judgment would always, by the fact that man is an imperfect and feeble creature, be below the truth with regard to God, in the proportion in which man is below God. Moreover, innocent man would have neither the need, nor the desire, to pass a judgment about God. He would enjoy His goodness with thanksgiving. Man who is a sinner is in no way capable of judging rightly either of his state, or of his position as before God; be has not even the wish for it. No, God reveals Himself in His own ways with regard to man. An angel does not furnish Him the occasion for it as man does; an angel has no need of mercy, of grace, of forgiveness, of divine righteousness, of a sacrificing priest, of power which, while sustaining him in weakness, raises him up from the dead. An angel is not, following upon all these things, made like to Christ, the glorious man, identified with his interests by the incarnation. Angels are a witness rendered to the creative and preserving power of God. They excel in strength. We see in them creatures kept by God, so that they have not lost their first estate. Now, grace and redemption, patience, mercy, divine righteousness, do not apply to such a state, but to fallen man they do. Here the angels desire to fathom the wonderful ways of God with regard to man. It is from the heart of man, descended to the lowest step in the scale of intelligent beings, resembling, alas, the beasts in his desires, Satan in his pride, a weak slave in his passions; strong, or at least proud, in his spirit and in his pretensions; having the knowledge of good and evil, but in a conscience which condemns him; by reason of sufferings, sighing after something better, but incapable of attaining it; having the want of some other world than this material one, but fearful of getting to it; having the feeling that we ought to be in relationship with God, the only object worthy of an immortal soul, but at an infinite distance from God in his lusts, and animated by such a desire for independence that he is unwilling to admit God to the only place which becomes Him if He is God, and seeks consequently to prove that there is no God: it is from the heart of man, capable of the highest aspirations, with which his pride feeds itself, and of the most degrading lusts with which however his conscience becomes disgusted; it is from the heart of man, that God forms the divine harp on which all the harmony of His praises can resound and will resound for evermore.
By the bringing in of grace and the divine power which unfolds itself in a new life communicated to man, and by the manifestation of the Son of God in human nature, fallen man is brought to judge all evil, according to divine affections formed in him by faith, and to enjoy good according to the perfect revelation of good in God Himself manifested in Christ; while man gives God His place with joy, because He is known as a God of love. Man also takes again the place of dependence the only one which is suitable for a creature, but of a dependence which is exercised in the intelligence of all the perfections of God, on which he depends, and depends with joy, as a child on his father, like Christ Himself who has taken this place in order that we may enter into it.
But in order that the character of God, that which He is, may be unfolded in the state of man, and that our hearts and consciences may take knowledge of it, man must pass through the different phases which furnish occasion for God to unfold Himself thus in grace. He must be, on God's part, an innocent and happy creature, by his own will fallen and guilty, and in a state in which all the grace of God displays itself, and in which God unfolds all its riches in righteousness, while His sovereign good pleasure raises man to a height which depends wholly on this good pleasure and glorifies God Himself in the result which is produced, but glorifies a God of love. In result, His sovereign goodness is displayed towards the most perfect misery, and causes to enter into its communion the most perfect excellence.
We are about to examine briefly these ways of God toward man.
God created man innocent, that is to say, having neither malice, nor corruption, nor lust, and without the discernment of good and evil—a discernment he had no need of, for he had only to enjoy with gratitude the good with which he was surrounded. At the same time, he was bound to obey, and his obedience was put to the proof by his being forbidden to eat one tree alone which was found in the midst of the garden.
It has been supposed that he had the knowledge of good and that he acquired the knowledge of evil. To say so is to misunderstand the force of the expression. He acquired the knowledge of the distinction of good and evil in himself. He began to judge concerning that which is good and that which is evil. Eating of the forbidden fruit was only evil because it was forbidden to be eaten; it was not evil in itself. God has taken care that in a state of sin, conscience should accompany man.
Man would have had opportunity, while in a state of innocence, to enjoy the visits of God, and to hold intercourse with God; but God did not dwell with him, nor he with God.
Man did not fall without being tempted. The enemy suggested to his mind distrust with regard to God; and this distrust, separating his heart from God, gave place to his own will and his lust, as well as to the pride which would be equal with God. Now, self-will, lust, and pride are what mark the actual condition of the natural man. Thus, man separated himself from God in making himself, as far as his will was concerned, independent of Him, that is to say, as much as sin can make independent, and as moral degradation does make us independent of sovereign good. In this state, man could not endure the presence of God. On the contrary, that presence, which cast the divine light on the state of man and made him feel what he had become—that presence which recalled his fault to him and what he had lost, must have been to him of all things the most intolerable. Man might cover himself to his own eyes, from the shame of sin, but before God he knew that he was naked, as if not a fig-leaf had been found in the garden.
The question of God, “Adam, where art thou?” was equally touching and overwhelming. Why, when he heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, with the divine familiarity of a goodness which could enter into communication with an innocent nature, did not man run to meet Him? Where was he? In sin and in nakedness.
Now, the word of God lays man bare. Terrible truth when the conscience is bad!—truth before which all pretense to independence vanishes like falsehood before the truth, only leaving the shameful guilt of the pretense itself, as well as of the folly and ingratitude which have sought after this independence, and in which we have sought to be independent of supreme Good.
Observe here that the promise was made to the last Adam, to the seed of the woman, and that it goes before the expulsion of fallen Adam from the earthly paradise. Thus man fled from the presence of God, before God drove him from the peaceful abode in which he had placed him. But the authority of God must be maintained. It was not becoming that sin should remain unpunished.
Judgment must needs be put in exercise. The holiness of God abhors sin and repels it. The righteousness of God maintains His authority according to His holiness in executing a just judgment on him who does evil. Man was banished from paradise, and the world began. Sin against one's neighbor was consummated in the world, as in against God in paradise, and the death of the righteous one presented a striking image of that of the Lord Himself. Driven from the presence of God, man in despair sought to put in order and to embellish the world: this was all that remained to him; and civilization, the arts, and the delights of a life of luxury occupied and developed the intelligence of a being, who, having no longer any relation with holiness and the divine perfections, lost himself in that which was below him, while boasting himself of the fruits of his perverted intellect.
But, without the repression of the will of man by a superior power, civilization, although it may deceive for a moment the judgment of man, as to the state of his heart in occupying the mind, cannot arrest the vehemence of lusts, nor the violence of the will which seeks to satisfy them and to make a way for its passions through all obstacles. “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.”
But the grace of God did not leave itself without witness. The judgment of God on the serpent announced the seed of the woman. Abel, who “being dead yet speaketh,” testified of the power of evil and of Satan in the world; but he also testified of the acceptance on God's part of the righteous one who comes to God through a sacrifice which recognizes sin and atones for it, and lays the foundation of a hope outside the world in which the one who was accepted of God had been rejected and sacrificed to the hatred of the wicked. The departure of Enoch, who walked with God, confirmed this hope, and tended to assure faith, (which believes that God is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him,) that there is a happiness for the righteous in the presence of Him whom He loves—a happiness which the world does not give, neither does it take away. This, although obscure, nourished and sustained the faith of those who sought to walk with God, whilst evil went on always increasing.
When the evil was approaching its height, another testimony was raised up in the person of him who was to pass through the judgment which put an end to the frightful development of evil that prevailed in spite of the testimony already given.
This was a testimony, not for the affections of the saints, fitted to carry them outside the world, but a testimony of the judgment of the world itself—a judgment necessary according to the principles of divine government, but through which a small, righteous remnant should be preserved in an ark of safety which God revealed to them.
Such was the condition of man, such his history, when, in consequence of the violation of a law, he had been driven from the earthly paradise in which God had placed him, and left, without law, to his own will, though not without a testimony. It needed that the deluge should put an end to a state of things in which corruption and violence had covered the face of the earth and left only eight persons disposed to listen to the testimony that God granted to them of the judgment which awaited them.
During the period which transpired between the expulsion of Adam from the terrestrial paradise and the deluge, man was one family, one race. There was no idolatry. Man was left to his own ways, (not without witness, but without restraint from without,) and the evil became insupportable: the deluge put an end to it. After this event—this judgment of God, a new world began, and the principle of government was introduced. He who should kill a man should himself be put to death; a curb was put upon violence, a bridle on outward sin: the corruption of the heart in a world at a distance from God remained just as it was. But, although there were as yet no nations, the destiny of various races, such as it has been to the present day, began to dawn at least prophetically. Noah failed in the position in which he had been placed after the deluge, as Adam had failed in Paradise, as man has always done; as every creature has done which has not been directly sustained of God.
The reader may, in passing, remark Adam as an image of Him who was to come, of the last Adam; and Noah as also a figure of Christ, inasmuch as the government of the world and the repression of evil were now entrusted to man.
Two great principles, which subsist to the present day, characterize the world which is developed after Noah: they are connected with the tower of Babel. Up to this time, whether before or after the deluge, there had been only the human race, one family only. Now, in consequence of the judgment of man, who seeks to exalt himself on the earth and to make himself a name, or center, which may give him strength, God scatters those who were building the tower, and there are nations, languages and peoples. The actual form of the world was established, in reference to its division into different tribes and different nations. Moreover, individual energy forms an empire which has Babel for its center and point of departure.
Now that the world is constituted, we arrive at the testimony and ways of God. In the midst of this system of nations, there were languages, peoples, and nations. The judgment of God had thus ordered the world, but an immense fact appears in the history of the world. The sin of man is no longer only sin against God, manifested in corruption and in the activity of an independent will. Demons take the place of God Himself in the eyes and for the imagination of men. Idolatry reigns among the nations, and even in the race brought the nearest to God, the race of Shem. Although, at bottom, this idolatry was everywhere the same, each nation had its gods. The system established by God Himself, at the time of the judgment of the race at the tower of Babel, acknowledged demons as its gods. This gives occasion to the call of Abraham. The God of glory appears to him and calls him to leave his country, his kindred, and his father's house. He must break completely with the system established by God, and that in its most intimate relationships. He must be for God, and for God alone. He is chosen by sovereign grace; being called, he walks by faith, and the promises are made to him. But this call introduces another principle of great importance. There had already been many faithful ones who had walked with God—Abele, Enoch's, Noah's; but none was like Adam, who was head of evil, the stock of a race. Now Abraham, being called, became the stock of a race which was to inherit the promises outside the world. Of course, this may be developed in a spiritual manner in Christians, or in a carnal manner in the people of Israel; but the heir of the promise, (and this applies to Christ Himself,) enjoys it as the seed of Abraham. If the nations, the peoples, the families, and the languages took demons for their gods, God took a man by His grace to be the head of a family, the stock of a people, who may belong to Him for His own. The fatness of God's olive-tree is found in those who grow on the root of Abraham, whether it be in a people, the seed according to the flesh, or in a seed which shares in the promised blessings, inasmuch as belonging to Christ, the true seed of the promise. This call and this vocation, whatever the phases may be which the objects to which they apply pass through, always remain firm. Christ Himself came to accomplish the promises made to the fathers, as a witness of the unchangeable truth of God.
The state of the first heirs, however, changes; and in a little while we find a people who care little for the promises, but who, far removed from the faith of Abraham, groan under the yoke of a merciless tyranny.
This state of the people of God brings in an event in which a principle of immense importance is brought into view, namely, that of redemption, or of the deliverance of the people of God from the consequences of sin and from the slavery in which they were held. We shall see also, in the fruits of redemption, facts of the highest interest for us. The cry of the people went up to the ears of Jehovah of hosts, and He comes down to deliver them. But the Savior is the just Judge, and it is needful that He should reconcile these two characters. In order to be able to deliver, His own righteousness must be satisfied. A God who is not righteous cannot, morally speaking, be a Savior. It is in this character that God definitely appears, when He intends to deliver the people. He had manifested His power in calling on Pharaoh to let the people go, in declaring the rights He had over Israel; but the deliverance must needs be accomplished without the goodwill of man and by the judgment of God, by the full manifestation of what He is with regard to evil, and in love also, so that He may be known. Now the people themselves were, in certain respects, more guilty than the Egyptians; and God comes in as a judge. But the blood of the paschal lamb is put upon the door. and Israel escapes the judgment that was due to them, according to the value which that blood had in the eyes of God. God judges, and, by reason of the blood recognized by faith, passes over His guilty people. But Israel was still in Egypt; their deliverance was not yet effected, although the price of redemption was paid in figure. Israel sets forth, On arriving at the Red Sea, the question of their deliverance or their ruin must be decided. Pharaoh had pursued them, sure of his victory. The wilderness in which Israel was, in appearance, lost, offered them no outlet; and the Red Sea (figure of death and judgment) was straight before them. On the morrow, Israel only saw the corpses of their enemies, who had perished in the sea—the road of salvation for the people of God. The death and judgment of Christ make us pass on dry land, far away from the place where we were captives.
Redemption is more than the fact of our being secured from the judgment of God. It is a deliverance wrought by God. He Himself acts for us, and places us in an altogether new position, by the exercise of the power of God Himself.
We have, in this important history, the figures of the great facts on which our eternal blessing is founded. It prefigures propitiation, redemption, and justification under a double aspect; on the one hand, propitiation by the blood which sets us free from all imputation of sin in presence of the righteousness of God; and on the other, our introduction, in virtue of the value of that blood, into an altogether new position by the resurrection. Christ was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.
Some very important principles come before our eyes, consequent upon deliverance by redemption. God dwell, with the redeemed—if you will, in their midst.
He did not dwell with innocent Adam, nor with Abraham called by His grace and heir of the promises. But as soon as Israel is redeemed and delivered by redemption, God dwells in the midst of the people. Compare Ex. 15:22The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2), and 24:45, 46.
The holiness of God and of the relations of His people with Him then appear for the first time.
Never in Genesis was the holiness of anything, whatever set before us, (except in the alone case of the sanctification of the Sabbath in Paradise,) nor the holiness of God's character. But Ex. 15; 19; Lev. 19:2626Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. (Leviticus 19:26), and other passages show us that, once redemption is accomplished, God takes this character and establishes it as necessary for everything that is in relation with Himself. Compare Ex. 6:55And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. (Exodus 6:5).
In immediate connection with this truth, another is found, which, moreover, flows necessarily from redemption, namely, that the ransomed ones no longer belong to themselves, they are taken for God, consecrated to God, set apart for Him. Afterward they are brought to God Himself. (Ex. 19:44Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4).)
Israel enter into the wilderness, the character of this world for the people of God who have the consciousness of their redemption, and the faithfulness of God takes care of His people there. Next, they enter into Canaan, where it is a question of the victories which we must win in order to enjoy in this world the heavenly privileges which belong to us. As to the title, we enjoy these privileges before gaining a single victory; but in order to realize these privileges, we must conquer, The wilderness and Canaan prefigure the two parts of Christian life: patience in the world under the hand of God who is leading us; and victory in our combats with Satan, in order to enjoy and to cause others to enjoy spiritual privileges.
But another very important privilege comes to light during the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness. If the reader examines Ex. 15 to 18., he will find that all is grace. But in chapter 19 the people put themselves under the law, and accept the enjoyment of the promises under the condition of their own obedience to all that the Lord would say. Obedience was a duty, but to place themselves under this condition, was to forget their own weakness and to insure their being lost, a consequence which did not fail. Before Moses came down from the mountain, Israel had made the calf of gold. The patience of God continued His relations with the people by the means of the intercession of Moses, until, as Jeremiah says, there was no longer any remedy. But our aim now is to point out the ways of God, and not to enter into details.
The promises of God had been made to Abraham without condition, and in consequence the question of righteousness had not been raised. Now, this question was raised, and first, as was reasonable, righteousness in man demanded on God's part. It was the duty of the creature. The question must needs have been raised, but the result was—and with sinners it could be no other—that man, having violated the law, aggravated his sin, instead of attaining to righteousness. With a rule, which would have made his happiness if be had kept it, he is only a transgressor and by so much the more guilty before God. Moreover, it was in order to convince him of his state of sin that the law, which brought in positive transgressions, was given to him. God never had the thought of saving by a law; and man needs to be saved. The law of God must propose a rule which expresses the perfection of a man, nay, of every intelligent creature. But that could do nothing else than make sin evident, when man was already a sinner. This last truth is forgotten, when people speak of the law. However, the law of God must be the perfect expression of what man ought to be, that is to say, must condemn man, a sinner. An exact measure does not add anything to a too short piece of cloth which has been sold to me, but it manifests the fraud. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” The question of human righteousness has been resolved by the law. Ordained with promise of life for obedience, it has been, in fact, a ministry of death and condemnation for those who have borne its yoke.
This is an immense fact and principle. Human righteousness does not exist. The guilt of man is made manifest.
We have seen that God manifested all patience with regard to man under the law, the while preparing him for a better hope. He sent His prophets to warn, to seek for fruits in His vineyard. All were rejected. At last He sent His Son. All was useless. He was cast out of the vineyard and put to death. But this exposes to view another character of sin: men rejected the mercy of God, as they failed to meet the just requirements of the law. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” But man had no desire for this reconciliation, and did not wish for God at any price. For His love, Christ found hatred. When He appeared, they saw no beauty in Him that they should desire Him.
Thus the sin of man was completely demonstrated. Innocent, he abandoned God; but afterward left to himself, except as to the testimony of God, he made of the world a scene of corruption and of violence, such that God must needs bring in the flood. Placed under the law, he violated it, and sought other gods of dung which he had invented. God Himself arrives in mercy in this world of sin, with the manifestation of the most perfect love and of a power capable of re-establishing man in blessing on the earth but the carnal mind is enmity against God, and man manifested this enmity in rejecting Jesus and putting Him to death. The cross of Jesus served as a proof that man hated God and expressed this hatred in the rejection of the Savior. Morally speaking, it is the end of the history of man. Completely put to the proof, he is corrupt and violent, a transgressor, guilty; but, more than that, he hates the God of goodness.
What we have gone through is the history of man put to the proof. There remains the history of the grace of God toward man, and the government of the world on the part of God.
(To be continued)