God has placed and preserved the Bible in this world to maintain His own authority in it, and wherever it has gone, and wherever any nation has owned it as the Word of the living God, there has been blessing and prosperity. But when the Scriptures are overthrown, infidelity sets in, and revolution follows.
The overthrowing, therefore, of the Divine authority of the Scriptures is nothing more nor less than the overthrowing of the AUTHORITY OF GOD in this world. The next thing to the overthrowing of God's authority is the overthrowing the authority of "the powers that be [which] are ordained of God." Lawlessness gets the upper hand.
In reference to science: had God wished to make known in the Scriptures what science can discover, He would have done so. But surely "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth His handiwork," and creation manifests "His eternal power and Godhead." God has made known far deeper things in His Word than anything that science can discover. The deepest mysteries of creation cannot be as deep as the mysteries of the Creator. God has given in the Scriptures the knowledge of HIMSELF, THE ABSOLUTE: THE ONE SELF-EXISTING ONE. God existed absolutely in perfect goodness before creation, and therefore before evil was introduced by Satan into a creation where perfect goodness and only goodness was manifested.
Sin, having been introduced by the devil into this creation, is the sole cause of all the sorrow, affliction, and misery in this world. The evil principle of sin having entered, murder followed; Cain killed his brother Abel. All this evil can be traced to the devil, of whom it is written: "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." John 8:4444Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44).
For the maintenance and development of creation that is, the creation outside man God has established natural laws. These are so perfect in themselves (and the philosopher glories in them) that it is impossible for creation to get out of order unless God Himself upsets the natural laws. He has a perfect right to do this being above all laws, natural or moral. God has not given over natural phenomena into the hands of man. Man can look at them, and admire and credit himself with the wonderful discoveries he has made, but he cannot touch them. This, no doubt, is a mercy because what man has touched he has spoiled.
The brute creation, governed by instinct and brought into existence by God, was placed under the dominion and control of man before and since the fall. God said, "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered." Gen. 9:22And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. (Genesis 9:2). But alas! All is in a groaning condition, laboring under the cruelties of man. The establishment of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals proves that the burdens of the brute creation even call forth the sympathies of many people. But has God nothing to say about it? Indeed He has. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His knowledge, and but for His great patience and long-suffering mercy over mankind, He would have delivered the groaning animal creation long ago. "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.... Waiting for the adoption manifestation, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8:22, 2322For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (Romans 8:22‑23).
But the brute creation is of a lower order than mankind; it has no intelligence as to its movements, and carries no responsibility. For instance, a monkey could not be brought before a magistrate to be put on trial, because there are no laws relative to monkeys.
This, although a mere truism, has an important bearing upon recent theories.
Man is placed upon the earth according to the counsels of God (for He had said, "Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness"), and having received life by God breathing into his nostrils the breath of life, became a living soul in direct relationship to THE ABSOLUTE, THE SELF-EXISTING GOD. Therefore he is not governed by natural laws as the external creation, nor by instinct as the brute creation, but by divine principles or moral laws. Man has a mind given him to understand intelligently the requirements of the One to whom he stands in relationship. Man, therefore, has a relative existence; being a creature, he stands in a relative existence to the CREATOR; being finite, to the INFINITE.
The divine principles established by God for the moral order and government of mankind are dependence and obedience. These have been violated by man himself, through his sin. The human creation is thrown into helpless ruin as far as man is concerned, and the relationship that existed between God and man has been broken thereby. But since the fall, God has been pleased in His grace to establish and to reveal in His written Word other divine principles whereby blessing from God can reach man. He has also shown how the broken relationship between Himself and man can be restored, or the means whereby man can be brought into relationship with God of a far higher character and infinitely more blessed than that in which he stood before the fall.
If blessing reaches man in his fallen state now, and if new relations are established between God and man, they must be established according to the glory of God, in absolute righteousness. God is love and God is holy; that is what He is in His nature. Whatever He does must be in accordance with the glory of His Person. The fall of man from his first estate had far deeper consequences than man is willing to admit. Often it is spoken of as a very trivial thing such as Adam's taking the forbidden fruit, but it was a direct act of independence and disobedience. By it man lost confidence in the living God, who is perfect in goodness.
God had been preparing the vast universe for the preservation of man upon the earth. But how can these purposes and counsels of God be carried out for the glory of God if man is disobedient, and acts independently of God? Impossible! Therefore, the earth has become, through man's sin, the platform upon which other questions must now be raised by God, and divinely settled for HIS GLORY.
First: There is an existing power of evil which must be traced to its source, Satan. There is a positive enemy of God who has taken advantage of the position in which God placed man upon the earth, and through subtlety and temptation has gotten man under his power through his disobedience and sin. This enemy and his power must be eternally set aside for the glory of God.
Second: Had God executed eternal judgment upon our first parents the moment they fell, and also upon Satan himself, a question might have been raised both as to the glory of God and the love of God. Having placed man upon the earth for His glory, if He swept him off under eternal judgment, where would be His glory as to the earth, or where His love as to man? God is love, and God must maintain His own glory.
Third: If God allowed man to go on in his sinful course forever, where would be His holiness?
Fourth: If God reinstated man and put him into a place of honor and blessing without executing the sentence passed upon him at the fall, where would be His righteousness?
All these questions require careful consideration, for they all have a relative bearing to man upon the earth. THE BIBLE has the highest place upon the earth in the sight of God. By it God speaks to man, making known His thoughts, His purposes, and plans in connection with man upon the earth. And even more, therein He reveals His thoughts about heaven.
THE WORD OF GOD IS ABSOLUTE, and God has magnified it above all His name. What God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do, are made known to us in the Scriptures. Although we have had no further communication for over eighteen hundred years, there is no need, for the Word of God is complete; He has "made known the mystery of His will.”
The Bible leaves no room for speculation or for the opinions of men, or the development of the mind and thoughts of men as time rolls on. It is as true today as it was in the days of Isaiah the prophet that God's thoughts are not man's thoughts, neither are God's ways man's ways.
“Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Jer. 9:23, 2423Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23‑24), W. Sibthorpe