God made man upright, and put him in the garden where was everything that was pleasant and good. Everything was to be subject to man, and he was to have dominion over all. And God brought the cattle and fowls to Adam, and he named them. Man is made the head, center, and ruler over all; put in the place of perfect earthly blessing. But all this could only be held and enjoyed in dependence on God. But, alas! how soon all was let go. The work of the enemy, the wretched distrust of God in man’s heart, in spite of all the blessings that surrounded him; lust and pride worked, followed so quickly in that dreadful act of disobedience, with its direct consequence; man becomes a coward, he cannot stand before the conscience he has now acquired, he flees from God, his kind gracious Benefactor.
But God is love, and it was love that put man there in that garden of delight at the first; and He is the unchanged and unchanging One: “The same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.” The man, changed and terrified, flees from God—God in the energy of divine love pursues, seeking the lost. But “God is light,” and everything must be brought to the surface, no keeping back, and why should there be the holding back? for He knows all, and with Him is the remedy.
“If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.” Adam’s heart condemned him; but God saw further into the depth of the ruin than Adam, and, blessed be His name, He saw the remedy too: the source of all the evil judged and crushed under the heel of the “woman’s seed.”
“Where art thou?” Man must come out from his hiding-place; as the leaves could not satisfy the conscience, so now the tree cannot hide from God. And how many trees there are that men are hiding behind today, busily engaged in plucking and sewing the leaves together; but they cannot stand “the light.” Prayers, almsgiving, attention to every religious and secular duty, a spotless reputation, holding the highest place in the estimation of others, a member of this or that church. These and many others, men are hiding behind, and in restless activity seeking to stifle the conscience which condemns, and says, “not fit for God.” It is God that asks, “Where art thou?” And He furnishes the answer, both for the sinner and the believer. The former is in his sins, that awful, lifeless condition, “in the flesh,” and thus unable in anything to please God. In the far country—where the famine is—without Christ, without hope, without God in the world, unclean; unjust, an outlaw, an enemy; the sword of judgment hanging over his head.
But, believer, “Where art thou?” And God’s word again furnishes the reply; and what mind, however great, could have given birth to such a thought—it would have been blasphemy to have expressed it—but God has spoken, and shall we not hear? Not in the first man where all is ruin, but in the second Man where there is naught but blessing. In Christ Jesus, where there is no condemnation. He, blessed be His name, bore it all on that tree, and now it can never touch the one in Christ. “Accepted in the beloved,” not merely in Christ, though that is true—but “in the beloved” the One so dear to the heart of God. In the Father’s house, seated at His table, having on the best robe, which is surely none other than Christ.
“Now we see in Christ’s acceptance
But the measure of our own;
Him who lay beneath our sentence,
Seated high upon the throne.
“Quicken’d, raised, and in Him seated,
We a full deliverance know;
Every foe has been defeated,
Every enemy laid low.
“Soon, O Lord, in brightest glory
All its vastness we’ll explore;
Soon we’ll cast our crowns before Thee,
Whilst we worship and adore.”
G. S.