Sin has made great inroads upon the happiness of the race. It not only threw heaven out of harmony, but blasted the hopes of a host of the angels, gave them darkness in the place of light and glory, death in the place of endless life. But it did not stop there. God purposed to people the new-created earth with a race that would love and serve Him, because of the justice, mercy, beauty, and love of His character. Even here the great deceiver made his unjust accusations, and sought to turn the race against its Maker.
Where Alpine Snows Hang to Their Mountain Peaks throughout the Year.
In that disobedience the new race forfeited its life as Satan and his followers forfeited theirs; but right there came the great counter move in the unchanging purpose of God. The Son of God set before the whole universe the great example of loyalty to the Father and to the principles that must rule His realm. Unlike the motives that actuated the heart of Satan, the motives of Christ had in them no tincture of the deadly venom of selfishness. The character of the two and the aims of the two were as far apart as the east and the west, as unlike as day and night, as beauty and deformity, as life and death. That was a test before which the whole universe must have stood aghast. Was there one in all God's creation who would lay down his glory and his life that a disobedient race might be saved from the consequences of its disobedience, and the wisdom and justice of God's government be vindicated?—There was. There may have been more than one; but there was One, One who would go down into the pit where man had fallen, taste the death that man had purchased for himself, that He might bring again within the reach of man that life which he had sold for naught, and frustrate Satan's design to show God less than what He is.
In these words God declares His unalterable purpose concerning man and the place of man's habitation: “As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater; so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth; it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” Man is not now going forth with joy, nor being led forth with peace; the mountains and hills are not yet singing the praises of God, nor are all the trees of the field clapping their hands in His honor; the thorn and the brier are still vexing the tiller of the soil, and crowding out the pleasant fruits and flowers. While this is true of man's physical habitation, the dwelling-place of his affections and homage is choked with thorns, and overgrown with tares of many kinds. But the purpose of God endures, and will triumph, even in this unpromising soil, for “the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.” He is able to create in us a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within us. Where the brier grew He will plant the myrtle, in the heart as well as in the earth. Where the thorn was abundant to vex the ground, and harass the wayfarer, He will plant a tree to His glory, and to our joy. The desert, parched, waterless, and waste, He will make a fruitful field and a garden of glory—a symbol of the transformation in the sand dunes that drift and shift over the unregenerate heart. There is nothing more unpromising than a heart whose soil is trodden hard with the busy feet of worldly cares. Even that desert God2 (354)is able to make blossom as the rose. That is God's purpose, and nothing but the deliberate choice of man can stand between him and the fulfilment of that design.
WHENEVER we see the snow carpeting the valley or hanging like a banner of purity upon the mountain peaks, we should remember that God desires us to see in that the fixity of His purpose concerning man and the world. As the rain comes down from the clouds and waters the earth to make it fruitful, and accomplish His purpose in the earth, so will God's Spirit water the thirsty soul and make it fruitful to His glory. The rain and the snow fulfilling His purpose are to be to us constant reminders of God's ability to fulfil His purpose in us. Satan has decreed the ruin of the race in order to disprove the wisdom and love and justice of God. But God has given to the world heaven's choicest gift that man himself might disprove the charge of Satan, and in that disproving gain for himself through Christ an eternity of joyous life in the everlasting kingdom of righteousness.
IN that work man is not thrown upon his own resources; every provision has been made for his success. The Lord's encouragement to man is: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” Isa. 41:10. Again and again is God's strengthening promise repeated. The Lord has sent out into the world the call: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” And again: “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And yet again: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah; tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.” In harmony with His purpose God's voice is calling still to man, calling him out of self and away from selfishness, calling him away from the world and its fleeting pleasures, away from the deadfalls of Satan, away from the consequences of sin. He is calling man up to the plain of righteousness, up to the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare, up to the service of joy and peace and blessing in this life and into the endless day of everlasting life beyond.
WHEN that glad consummation comes; when sin in its root and branches has been burned out of the earth; when the tears of sorrow and distress have been wiped from every eye; when the renovated earth has begun to bud and bloom again in the untarnished beauty of Eden, and the throne of God and of the Lamb is in it as the sealing climax of Emmanuel's victory; then will these words have fulfilment: “Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.” When all God's people thus unite their voices in His praise, sin will no more have a place in the universe of God. Sin and sinners are gone and gone forever. The purpose of God is fulfilled; the universe is again a unit in loyalty to its Maker. That glorious time is hastening on. The end of sin is at hand, and the victory of the faithful, loyal children of God is sure in the consummation of His purpose.
