The Unwelcome Discovery.

 
HOW much easier it is for man to understand God’s power in creation than to grasp the thought of His love in redemption! Hence it is a common thing to hear Him spoken of as “The Almighty,” or as “The Creator,” or even addressed by professing Christians as “Thou great and almighty Being.” There can be no doubt that He is all this, and that, as Romans 1:2020For 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; so that they are without excuse: (Romans 1:20) puts it, His eternal power and Godhead are “clearly seen” by His works in creation. Yes, clearly seen by all but the blinded atheist, who is rightly described in 2 Peter 3:55For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: (2 Peter 3:5) as “willingly ignorant.” Shutting his eyes to divine revelation, the very existence of the earth and the heavens becomes a mystery to him, and his own existence not less so; while the inevitable future is a darker mystery than either. He cannot even count the stars that spangle the heavens, for every freshly added power to the telescope only shows him that his past calculations were numerically far below the mark; nor can he, with all his boasted cleverness, count how many times a common house-fly moves his wings in one minute. He could not give life to a single dead gnat, nor could he, with all his scientific appliances, place a new star in yonder heavens, or take one from its present place, and yet he has the daring to lift his rebellious voice and say, “No Creator, no God.” There can be little doubt, however, that had it been possible for God to have created the world, and then gone out of existence, there would have been no infidelity about the creation. But He is the “LIVING GOD.” He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, and consequently a God who must judge sin. This man cannot bear, and hence it is written of him, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” But, as another has remarked, he only says this in his heart, not in his conscience.
Such men remind one of the wealthy Brahmin who had come into possession of a very powerful microscope, with which he was wont to amuse himself by examining the different wonders in creation around him. One day, it is said, he chanced to examine his own dinner, and to his great annoyance discovered the rice to be full of tiny living creatures, too small for discernment by the natural eye. Now, alas! it was part of his creed never to taste of anything belonging to the animal kingdom. What could he do therefore? There was nothing for it but to demolish the instrument that had manifested the unpalatable secret! This he accordingly did by dashing it to pieces at his feet. But did this alter the unwelcome fact? No; he thereby only manifested his own folly. Nor does the rejecter of God’s Word do anything less unreasonable than this. A distasteful fact lies therein recorded― “after death the judgment.” He does not like it, and therefore, if he could, would sweep the blessed Book from the face of the earth. But it has been well said that the Book itself is as great a miracle as any miracle it records. It has stood many a storm, and’ is likely to stand a good many more, be they ten thousand times fiercer than the former. “The Word of God abideth forever.”
But God’s power in creation, and the certainty of coming judgment, are not, thank God, the only truths this precious record contains. In the person of His beloved Son, God has fully declared Himself as the “Friend of sinners,” of the worst of sinners. He “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.” That Son―the “Word made flesh” ―has fully revealed the Father’s heart, and if not a sinner in the wide world should ever be saved, God has certainly declared His boundless love to man. “God is love.”
Take an illustration. The snow lies deep on the ground in hard mid-winter; wild forest-birds are seen half-starved near your door; you go out in kindness to them, clear the ground, and scatter crumbs and seeds all around. Now, if every bird fled back to the forest without tasting a crumb, and eventually perished for want of food, it would not alter what your kindness had been to them. But suppose one half-famished little thing hopped within five yards of you, and ever so timidly picked up a few crumbs, would you not like it? Yes, and the nearer the tiny creature came, the better pleased you would be; and should one of the hungry flock be so trustful as to hop on your shoulder, or pick crumbs from your hand, you would be inclined to call every child in the house to witness it (see John 3:16; 1:1816For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)
18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18); 1 John 3:1616Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. (1 John 3:16)).
Now God has come near to man in the person of His Son. He knew that without the death of a spotless victim man must righteously perish forever, and He so loved a guilty world “that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What love, what giving, what a gift!
Reader, your responsibility is to receive this unmerited gift from God. Remember that the alternative, if in blind unbelief you refuse it, has been expressed in that one awful word— “Perish.” Weigh the issues well and carefully, for they stretch into eternity. God has righteously cleared the ground by the work of His beloved Son in suffering and death upon the cross, and UPON THAT GROUND ALONE He holds out to you eternal blessings. Whatever your heart may be, He has proved that His heart is to be trusted; and when a poor sinner comes for that salvation which He delights to bestow, the very angels are called to witness the overflowing’s of His joy. The servant could say of the prodigal’s reception, “Thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound” (Luke 15:2424For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. (Luke 15:24)).