by AW Pink · Cited by 76 — Appropriately has Genesis been termed “the seed plot of the Bible,” for in it we have, in germ form, almost all of the great doctrines which are afterwards fully
142 KB – 212 Pages
PAGE – 1 ============
Gleanings In GenesisA. W. PinkThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivative Work 3.0 LicenseIntroductionAppropriately has Genesis been termed “the seed plot of the Bible,” for in it we have, in germ form, almostall of the great doctrines which are afterwards fully developed in the books of Scripture which follow.In Genesis God is revealed as the Creator-God, as the Covenant-God, as the Almighty-God, as well as “theMost High, Possessor of heaven and earth.”In Genesis we have the first hint of the Blessed Trinity, of a plurality of Persons in the GodheadŠŠ”Let usmake man in our image” (Gen. 1:26).In Genesis man is exhibited. First as the creature of God™™s hands, then as a fallen and sinful being, and lateras one who is brought back to God, finding grace in His sight (Gen. 6:8), walking with God (Gen. 6:9), made”the friend of God” (Jam. 2:23).In Genesis the wiles of Satan are exposed. We “are not ignorant of his devices,” for here the Holy Spirit hasfully uncovered them. The realm in which the arch-enemy works is not the moral but the spiritual. He callsinto question the Word of God, casts doubt on its integrity, denies its veracity.In Genesis the truth of sovereign election is first exhibited. God singles out Abraham from an idolatrouspeople, and makes him the father of the chosen Nation. God passes by Ishmael and calls Isaac.In Genesis the truth of salvation is typically displayed. Our fallen first parents are clothed by God Himself,clothed with skins: to procure those skins death had to come in, blood must be shed, the innocent was slainin the stead of the guilty. Only thus could man™™s shame be covered, and only thus could the sinner be fittedto stand before the thrice holy God.In Genesis the truth of justification by faith is first made known: “And he believed in the Lord; and Hecounted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). Abraham believed God: not Abraham obeyed God, or lovedGod, or served God; but Abraham believed God. And it was counted unto him for (not instead of, but unto)righteousness. Then, if righteousness was “counted” unto Abraham, he had none of his own. Believing God,righteousness was reckoned to Abraham™™s account.In Genesis the believer™™s security is strikingly illustrated. The flood of Divine judgment descends on theearth, and swallows up all its guilty inhabitants. But Noah, who had found grace in the eyes of the Lord, wassafely preserved in the ark, into which God had shut him.In Genesis the truth of separation is clearly inculcated. Enoch™™s lot was cast in days wherein evil abounded,but he lived apart from the world, walking with God. Abraham was called upon to separate himself fromidolatrous Chaldea, and to step out upon the promises of God. Lot is held up before us as a solemn exampleof the direful consequences of being unequally yoked with unbelievers, and of having fellowship with theunfruitful works of darkness.
PAGE – 2 ============
In Genesis God™™s disciplinary chastisements upon an erring believer are portrayed. Jacob is the standingexample of what happens to a child of God who walks after the flesh, instead of after the spirit. But in the endwe are shown how Divine grace triumphs over human frailty.In Genesis we are shown the importance and value of prayer. Abraham prayed unto God and Abimelech™™slife was spared (Gen. 20:17). Abraham™™s servant cries to the Lord that God would prosper his efforts tosecure a wife for Isaac, and God answered his petition (chap. 24). Jacob, too, prays, and God hearkened.In Genesis the saint™™s rapture to heaven is vividly portrayed. Enoch, the man who walked with God, “wasnot,” for God had translated him. He did not pass through the portals of death. He was suddenly removed fromthese scenes of sin and suffering and transported into the realm of glory without seeing death.In Genesis the divine incarnation is first declared. The Coming One was to be supernaturally begotten. Hewas to enter this world as none other ever did. He was to be the Son of Man, and yet have no human father.The One who should bruise the serpent™™s head was to be the woman™™s “Seed.”In Genesis the death and resurrection of the Savior are strikingly foreshadowed. The ark, in which werepreserved Noah and his family, were brought safely through the deluge of death on to the new earth. Isaac,the beloved son of Abraham, at the bidding of his father, is laid, unresistingly, on the altar, and from itAbraham “received him back as in a figure from the dead.”In Genesis we also learn of the Savior™™s coming exaltation. This is strikingly typified in the history ofJosephŠŠthe most complete of all the personal types of ChristŠŠwho, after a period of humiliation andsuffering was exalted to be the governor over all Egypt. Jacob, too, on his deathbed, also declares of Shilohthat “unto him shall the gathering of the peoples be” (Gen. 49:10).In Genesis the priesthood of Christ is anticipated. The Lord Jesus is a Priest not of the Aaronic system, but”after the order of Melchzedek.” And it is in Genesis that this mysterious character, who received tithes fromand blessed Abraham, is brought before our view.In Genesis the coming Antichrist is announced, announced as “the seed of the serpent” (Gen. 3:15). He is seen,too, foreshadowed in the person and history of Nimrod, the rebel against the Lord, the man who headed thefirst great federation in open opposition to the Most High.In Genesis we first read of God giving Palestine to Abraham and to his seed: “And the Lord appeared untoAbraham, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land” (Gen. 12:7). And again, “For all the land which thouseest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever” (Gen. 13:15).In Genesis the wondrous future of Israel is made known. “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth:so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered” (Gen. 13:16). “Andin thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18).In Genesis the judgment of God on the wicked is solemnly exhibited. Cain confesses his punishment is greaterthan he can bear. The flood comes on the world of the ungodly and sweeps them all away. Fire and brimstonedescend on Sodom and Gomorrah, till naught but their ashes remain. Lot™™s wife, for one act of disobedience,is turned into a pillar of salt.
PAGE – 3 ============
What a marvelous proof is all this of the Divine Authorship! Who but the One who knows the end from thebeginning, could have embodied, in germ form, what is afterwards expanded and amplified in the rest of theBible? What unequivocal demonstration that there was One superintending mind, directing the pens of all whowrote the later books of Holy Scripture! May the blessing of God rest upon us as we seek to enjoy some ofthe inexhaustible riches of this book of beginnings.Arthur W. Pink.Swengel, Pa.
PAGE – 4 ============
1. Creation and RestorationGenesis 1The manner in which the Holy Scriptures open is worthy of their Divine Author. “In the beginning Godcreated the heaven and the earth,” and that is all that is here recorded concerning the original creation. Nothingis said which enables us to fix the date of their creation; nothing is revealed concerning their appearance orinhabitants; nothing is told us about the modus operandi of their Divine Architect. We do not know whetherthe primitive heaven and earth were created a few thousands, or many millions of years ago. We are notinformed as to whether they were called into existence in a moment of time, or whether the process of theirformation covered an interval of long ages. The bare fact is stated: “In the beginning God created,” andnothing is added to gratify the curious. The opening sentence of Holy Writ is not to be philosophized about,but is presented as a statement of truth to be received with unquestioning faith.”In the beginning God created.” No argument is entered into to prove the existence of God: instead, Hisexistence is affirmed as a fact to be believed. And yet, sufficient is expressed in this one brief sentence toexpose every fallacy which man has invented concerning the Deity. This opening sentence of the Biblerepudiates atheism, for it postulates the existence of God. It refutes materialism, for it distinguishes betweenGod and His material creation. It abolishes pantheism, for it predicates that which necessitates a personalGod. “In the beginning God created,” tells us that He was Himself before the beginning, and hence, Eternal.”In the beginning God created,” and that informs us he is a personal being, for an abstraction, an impersonal”first cause,” could not create. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” and that argues Heis infinite and omnipotent, for no finite being possesses the power to “create,” and none but an OmnipotentBeing could create “the heaven and the earth.””In the beginning God.” This is the foundation truth of all real theology. God is the great Originator andInitiator. It is the ignoring of this which is the basic error in all human schemes. False systems of theology andphilosophy begin with man, and seek to work up to God. But this is a turning of things upside down. We must,in all our thinking, begin with God, and work down to man. Again, this is true of the Divine inspiration of theScriptures. The Bible is couched in human language, it is addressed to human ears, it was written by humanhands, but, in the beginning God “holy men of God spake, moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Pet. 1:21). This isalso true of salvation. In Eden, Adam sinned, and brought in death; but his Maker was not taken by surprise:in the beginning God had provided for just such an emergency, for, “the Lamb” was “foreordained before thefoundation of the world” (1 Pet. 1:20). This is also true of the new creation. The soul that is saved, repents,believes, and serves the Lord; but, in the beginning, God chose us in Christ (Eph. 1:4), and now, “we loveHim, because He first loved us.””In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” and we cannot but believe that these creations wereworthy of Himself, that they reflected the perfections of their Maker, that they were exceedingly fair in theirpristine beauty. Certainly, the earth, on the morning of its creation, must have been vastly different from itschaotic state as described in Genesis 1:2. “And the earth was without form and void” must refer to a conditionof the earth much later than what is before us in the preceding verse. It is now over a hundred years ago sinceDr. Chalmers called attention to the fact that the word “was” in Genesis 1:2 should be translated “became,”and that between the first two verses of Genesis 1 some terrible catastrophe must have intervened. That thiscatastrophe may have been connected with the apostasy of Satan, seems more than likely; that somecatastrophe did occur is certain from Isaiah 45:18, which expressly declares that the earth was not created inthe condition in which Genesis 1:2 views it.
PAGE – 5 ============
What is found in the remainder of Genesis 1 refers not to the primitive creation but to the restoration of thatwhich had fallen into ruins. Genesis 1:1 speaks of the original creation; Genesis 1:2 describes the thencondition of the earth six days before Adam was called into existence. To what remote point in time Genesis1:1 conducts us, or as to how long an interval passed before the earth “became” a ruin, we have no means ofknowing; but if the surmises of geologists could be conclusively established there would be no conflict at allbetween the findings of science and the teaching of Scripture. The unknown interval between the first twoverses of Genesis 1, is wide enough to embrace all the prehistoric ages which may have elapsed; but all thattook place from Genesis 1:3 onwards transpired less than six thousand years ago.”In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is” (Ex. 20:11). There is a widedifference between “creating” and “making”: to “create” is to call into existence something out of nothing;to “make” is to form or fashion something out of materials already existing. A carpenter can “make” a chairout of wood, but he is quite unable to “create” the wood itself. “In the beginning (whenever that was) Godcreated the heaven and the earth”; subsequently (after the primitive creation had become a ruin) “the Lordmade heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” This Exodus scripture settles the controversy whichhas been raised as to what kind of “days” are meant in Genesis 1, whether days of 24 hours, or protractedperiods of time. In “six days,” that is, literal days of twenty-four hours duration, the Lord completed the workof restoring and re-fashioning that which some terrible catastrophe had blasted and plunged into chaos.What follows in the remainder of Genesis 1 is to be regarded not as a poem, still less as an allegory, but asa literal, historical statement of Divine revelation. We have little patience with those who labor to show thatthe teaching of this chapter is in harmony with modern scienceŠŠas well ask whether the celestialchronometer is in keeping with the timepiece at Greenwich. Rather must it be the part of scientists to bringtheir declarations into accord with the teaching of Genesis 1, if they are to receive the respect of the childrenof God. The faith of the Christian rests not in the wisdom of man, nor does it stand in any need of buttressingfrom scientific savants. The faith of the Christian rests upon the impregnable rock of Holy Scripture, and weneed nothing more. Too often have Christian apologists deserted their proper ground. For instance: one of theancient tablets of Assyria is deciphered, and then it is triumphantly announced that some statements foundin the historical portions of the Old Testament have been confirmed. But that is only a turning of things upsidedown again. The Word of God needs no “confirming.” If the writing upon an Assyrian tablet agrees with whatis recorded in Scripture, that confirms the historical accuracy of the Assyrian tablet; if it disagrees, that isproof positive that the Assyrian writer was at fault. In like manner, if the teachings of science square withScripture, that goes to show the former are correct; if they conflict, that proves the postulates of science arefalse. The man of the world, and the pseudo-scientist may sneer at our logic, but that only demonstrates thetruth of God™™s Word, which declares, “but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: forthey are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).Marvelously concise is what is found in Genesis 1. A single verse suffices to speak of the original creationof the heaven and the earth. Another verse is all that is needed to ac-scribe the awful chaos into which theruined earth was plunged. And less than thirty verses more tell of the six days™™ work, during which the Lord”made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is.” Not all the combined skill of the greatest literarygenius™™, historians, poets, or philosophers this world has ever produced, could design a composition whichbegan to equal Genesis 1. For reconditeness of theme, and yet simplicity of language; for comprehensivenessof scope, and yet terseness of expression; for scientific exactitude, and yet the avoidance of all technical terms;it is unrivalled, and nothing can be found in the whole realm of literature which can be compared with it fora moment. It stands in a class all by itself. If “brevity is the soul of wit” (i. e. wisdom) then the brevity of whatis recorded in this opening chapter of the Bible evidences the divine wisdom of Him who inspired it. Contrastthe labored formulae of the scientists, contrast the verbose writings of the poets, contrast the meaninglesscosmogonies of the ancients and the foolish mythologies of the heathen, and the uniqueness of this Divineaccount of Creation and Restoration will at once appear. Every line of this opening chapter of Holy Writ hasstamped across it the autograph of Deity.
PAGE – 6 ============
Concerning the details of the six days™™ work we cannot now say very much. The orderly manner in whichGod proceeded, the ease with which He accomplished His work, the excellency of that which was produced,and the simplicity of the narrative, at once impress the reader. Out of the chaos was brought the “cosmos,”which signifies order, arrangement, beauty; out of the waters emerged the earth; a scene of desolation,darkness and death, was transformed into one of light, life, and fertility, so that at the end all was pronounced”very good.” Observe that here is to be found the first Divine Decalogue: ten times we read, “and God said,let there be,” etc. (vv. 3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 14, 20, 24, 26, 30), which may be termed the Ten Commandments ofCreation.In the Hebrew there are just seven words in the opening verse of Genesis 1, and these are composed of twenty-eight letters, which is 7 multiplied by 4. Seven is the number of perfection, and four of creation, hence, welearn that the primary creation was perfect as it left its Maker™™s hands. it is equally significant that there wereseven distinct stages in God™™s work of restoring the earth: First, there was the activity of the Holy Spirit (Gen.1:2); Second, the calling of light into existence (Gen. 1:3); Third, the making of the firmament (Gen. 1:6-9);Fourth, the clothing of the earth with vegetation (Gen. 1:11); Fifth, the making and arranging of the heavenlybodies (Gen. 1:14-18); Sixth, the storing of the waters (Gen. 1:20-21); Seventh, the stocking of the earth (Gen.1:24). The perfection of God™™s handiwork is further made to appear in the seven times the word “good”occurs hereŠŠverses 4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31ŠŠalso the word “made” is found seven times in thissectionŠŠGenesis 1:7, 16, 25, 26, 31; 2:2, 3. Seven times “heaven” is mentioned in this chapterŠŠverses1, 8, 9, 14, 15, 17, 20. And, it may be added, that “God” Himself is referred to in this opening section (Gen.1:1-2:4) thirty-five times, which is 7 multiplied by 5. Thus the seal of perfection is stamped upon everythingGod here did and made.Turning from the literal meaning of what is before us in this opening chapter of Holy Writ, we would dwellnow upon that which has often been pointed out by others, namely, the typical significance of these verses.The order followed by God in re-constructing the old creation is the same which obtains in connection withthe new creation, and in a remarkable manner the one is here made to foreshadow the other. The early historyof this earth corresponds with the spiritual history of the believer in Christ. What occurred in connection withthe world of old, finds its counterpart in the regenerated man. It is this line of truth which will now engageour attention.1. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” As we have already observed, the originalcondition of this primary creation was vastly different from the state in which we view it in the next verse.Coming fresh from the hands of their Creator, the heaven and the earth must have presented a scene ofunequalled freshness and beauty. No groans of suffering were heard to mar the harmony of the song of “themorning stars” as they sang together (Job 38:7). No worm of corruption was there to defile the perfections ofthe Creator™™s handiwork. No iniquitous rebel was there to challenge the supremacy of God. And no deathshades were there to spread the spirit of gloom. God reigned supreme, without a rival, and everything was verygood.So, too, in the beginning of this world™™s history, God also created man, and vastly different was his originalstate from that into which he subsequently fell. Made in the image and likeness of God, provided with ahelpmate, placed in a small garden of delights, given dominion over all the lower orders of creation, “blessed”by His Maker, bidden to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and included in that which Godpronounced “very good,” Adam had all that heart could desire. Behind him was no sinful heredity, within himwas no deceitful and wicked heart, upon him were no marks of corruption, and around him were no signs ofdeath. Together with his helpmate, in fellowship with his Maker, there was everything to make him happy andcontented.
PAGE – 8 ============
The analogy holds good in the spiritual realm. Fallen man had no more claim upon God™™s notice than hadthe desolated primitive earth. When Adam rebelled against his Maker, he merited naught but unsparingjudgment at His hands, and if God was inclined to have any further regard for him, it was due alone tosovereign mercy. What wonder if God had left man to the doom he so richly deserved! But no. God haddesigns of grace toward him. From the wreck and ruin of fallen humanity, God purposed to bring forth a “newcreation.” Out of the death of sin, God is now bringing on to resurrection ground all who are united to ChristHis Son. And the first thing in bringing this about is the activity of the Holy Spirit. And this, again, is a primenecessity. Fallen man, in himself, is as helpless as was the fallen earth. The sinner can no more regeneratehimself than could the ruined earth lift itself out of the deep which rested upon it. The new creation, like therestoration of the material creation, must be accomplished by God Himself.4. “And God said, let there be light, and there was light.” First the activity of the Holy Spirit and now thespoken Word. No less than ten times in this chapter do we read “and God said.” God might have refashionedand refurnished the earth without speaking at all, but He did not. Instead, He plainly intimated from thebeginning, that His purpose was to be worked out and His counsels accomplished by the Word. The first thingGod said was, “Let there be light,” and we read, “There was light.” Light, then, came in, was produced by, theWord. And then we are told, “God saw the light, that it was good.”It is so in the work of the new creation. These two are inseparably joined togetherŠŠthe activity of the Spiritand the ministry of the Word of God. It is by these the man in Christ became a new creation. And the initialstep toward this was the entrance of light into the darkness. The entrance of sin has blinded the eyes of man™™sheart and has darkened his understanding. So much so that, left to himself, man is unable to perceive theawfulness of his condition, the condemnation which rests upon him, or the peril in which he stands. Unableto see his urgent need of a Savior, he is, spiritually, in total darkness. And neither the affections of his heart,the reasonings of his mind, nor the power of his will, can dissipate this awful darkness. Light comes to thesinner through the Word applied by the Spirit. As it is written, “the entrance of Thy words giveth light” (Ps.119:130). This marks the initial step of God™™s work in the soul. Just as the shining of the light in Genesis Imade manifest the desolation upon which it shone, so the entrance of God™™s Word into the human heartreveals the awful ruin which sin has wrought.5. “And God divided the light from the darkness.” Hebrews 4:12 tells us, the Word of God is quick, andpowerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, andof the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” This is not a figurativeexpression but, we believe, a statement of literal fact. Man is a tripartite being, made up of “spirit and souland body” (1 Thess. 5:23). The late Dr. Pierson distinguished between them thus: “The spirit is capable ofGod-consciousness; the soul is the seat of self-consciousness; the body of sense-consciousness.™™™™ In the daythat Adam sinned, he died spiritually. Physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body; spiritualdeath is the separation of the spirit from God. When Adam died, his spirit was not annihilated, but it was”alienated” from God. There was a fall. The spirit, the highest part of Adam™™s complex being, no longerdominated; instead, it was degraded, it fell to the level of the soul, and ceased to function separately. Hence,today, the unregenerate man is dominated by his soul, which is the seat of lust, passion, emotion. But in thework of regeneration, the Word of God “pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit,” and the spiritis rescued from the lower level to which it has fallen, being brought back again into communion with God.The “spirit” being that part of man which is capable of communion with God, is light; the “soul” when it isnot dominated and regulated by the spirit is in darkness, hence, in that part of the six days™™ work ofrestoration which adumbrated the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, we read, “And God divided the lightfrom the darkness.”
PAGE – 9 ============
6. “And God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from thewaters . . . . and God called the firmament heaven” (Gen. 1:6, 8). This brings us to the second days work, andhere, for the first time, we read that “God made” something (Gen. 1:7). This was the formation of theatmospheric heaven, the “firmament,” named by God “heaven.” That which corresponds to this in the newcreation, is the impartation of a new nature. The one who is “born of the Spirit” becomes a “partaker of theDivine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4). Regeneration is not the improvement of the flesh, or the cultivation of the oldnature; it is the reception of an altogether new and heavenly nature. It is important to note that the “firmament”was produced by the Word, for, again we read, “And God said.” So it is by the written Word of God that thenew birth is produced, “Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth”(Jam. 1:18). And again, “beingborn again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God” (1 Pet. 1:23).7. “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry landappear: and it was so. And God said. Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit treeyielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself” (Gen. 1:9-11). These verses bring before us God™™s workon the third day, and in harmony with the meaning of this numeral we find that which clearly speaks ofresurrection. The earth was raised out of the waters which had submerged it, and then it was clothed withvegetation. Where before there was only desolation and death, life and fertility now appeared. So it is inregeneration. The one who was dead in trespasses and sins, has been raised to walk in newness of life. Theone who was by the old creation “in Adam,” is now by new creation “in Christ.” The one who before producednothing but dead works, is now fitted to bring forth fruit to the glory of God.And here we must conclude. Much has been left untouched, but sufficient has been said, we trust, to showthat the order followed by God in the six days™™ work of restoration, foreshadowed His work of grace in thenew creation: that which He did of old in the material world, typified His present work in the spiritual realm.Every stage was accomplished by the putting forth of Divine power, and everything was produced by theoperation of His Word. May writer and reader be more and more subject to that Word, and then shall we bepleasing to Him and fruitful in His service.2. Christ In Genesis 1In our first meditation upon this wonderful book of beginnings we pointed out some of the striking analogieswhich exist between the order followed by God in His work of creation and His method of procedure in the”new creation,™™™™ the spiritual creation in the believer. First, there was darkness, then the action of the HolySpirit, then the word of power going forth, and then light as the result, and later resurrection and fruit. Thereis also a striking foreshadowment of God™™s great dispensational dealings with our race, in this record of Hiswork in the six days, but as this has already received attention from more capable pens than ours, we pass onto still another application of this scripture. There is much concerning Christ in this first chapter of Genesisif only we have eyes to see, and it is the typical application of Genesis 1 to Christ and His work we would heredirect attention.Christ is the key which unlocks the golden doors into the temple of Divine truth. “Search the Scriptures,” isHis command, “for they are they which testify of Me.” And again, He declares, “In the volume of the Bookit is written of Me.” In every section of the written Word the Personal Word is enshrinedŠŠin Genesis asmuch as in Matthew. And we would now submit that on the frontispiece of Divine Revelation we have atypical program of the entire Work of Redemption.
PAGE – 10 ============
In the opening statements of this chapter we discover, in type, the great need of Redemption. “In the beginningGod created the heavens and the earth.” This carries us back to the primal creation which, like everything elsethat comes from the hand of God, must have been perfect, beautiful, glorious. Such also was the originalcondition of man. Made in the image of his Creator, endowed with the breath of Elohim, he was pronounced”very good.”But the next words present a very different pictureŠŠ”And the earth was without form and void,” or, as theoriginal Hebrew might be more literally translated, “The earth became a ruin.” Between the first two versesin Genesis 1 a terrible calamity occurred. Sin entered the universe. The heart of the mightiest of all God™™screatures was filled with prideŠŠSatan had dared to oppose the will of the Almighty. The dire effects of hisfall reached to our earth, and what was originally created by God fair and beautiful, became a ruin. Again wesee in this a striking analogy to the history of man. He too fell. He also became a ruin. The effects of his sinlikewise reached beyond himselfŠŠthe generations of an unborn humanity being cursed as the result of thesin of our first parents.”And darkness was upon the face of the deep.” Darkness is the opposite of light. God is light. Darkness is theemblem of Satan. Well do these words describe the natural condition of our fallen race. Judicially separatedfrom God, morally and spiritually blind, experimentally the slaves of Satan, an awful pall of darkness restsupon the entire mass of an unregenerate humanity. But this only furnishes a black background upon whichcan be displayed the glories of Divine Grace. “Where sin abounded grace did much more abound.” Themethod of this “abounding of grace” is, in type, outlined in God™™s work during the six days. In the work ofthe first four days we have a most remarkable foreshadowment of the four great stages in the Work ofRedemption. We cannot now do much more than call attention to the outlines of this marvelous primitivepicture. But as we approach it, to gaze upon it in awe and wonderment, may the Spirit of God take of thethings of Christ and show them unto us.I. In the first day™™s work the Divine Incarnation is typically set forth.If fallen and sinful men are to be reconciled to the thrice holy God what must be done? How can the infinitechasm separating Deity from humanity be bridged? What ladder shall be able to rest here upon earth and yetreach right into heaven itself? Only one answer is possible to these questions. The initial step in the work ofhuman redemption must be the Incarnation of Deity. Of necessity this must be the starting point. The Wordmust become flesh. God Himself must come right down to the very pit where a ruined humanity helplesslylies, if it is ever to be lifted out of the miry clay and transported to heavenly places. The Son of God must takeupon Himself the form of a servant and be made in the likeness of men.This is precisely what the first day™™s work typifies in its foreshadowment of the initial step in the Work ofRedemption, namely, the Incarnation of the Divine Redeemer. Notice here five things.First, there is the work of the Holy Spirit. “And the Spirit of God moved (Heb. ‚‚brooded™™) upon the face ofthe waters” (v. 2). So also was this the order in the Divine Incarnation. Concerning the mother of the Saviorwe read, “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power ofthe Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be calledthe Son of God” (Luke 1:35).Second, the word issues forth as light. “And God said (the word) let there be light and there was light” (v. 3).So also as soon as Mary brings forth the Holy Child “The glory of the Lord shone round about” the shepherdson Bethlehem™™s plains (Luke 2:9). And when He is presented in the temple, Simeon was moved by the HolySpirit to say, “For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people:a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.”
142 KB – 212 Pages