The Word of God is manifest in His works, for by His Word were all things created. “He spake, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast.” Much labor and controversy, also such sacrifice of truth to make way for error, would be spared to well-meaning men if they would but believe this simple truth. Verily “the way of transgressors is hard.”
Black Butte and Mount Shasta, in Northern California.
“God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” The light dispersed the darkness that enshrouded chaos, and made way for order. “And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” So there are waters under the firmament and above it. This was demonstrated at the time of the great Deluge, when “the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened,” to flood the earth with water.
“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so.” The dry land was called earth, and the cumulated waters were called seas. “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night.” These were for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years; also for lights in the firmament of the heaven, to give light upon the earth.
“And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and let fowl fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created the great sea monsters, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kinds, and every winged fowl after its kind.” There was no hitch in all this work, for God makes no mistakes, and He saw that it was good. “And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind.” And this, too, was good.
And then came the crowning act. “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” After creating the man and the woman, “God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” The Lord then gave the entire dominion of the earth and everything in it into the hand of the man. “And God saw everything He had made, and, behold, it was very good.”
THERE could be no flaw in that which, in the eyes of a perfect Creator, was “very good.” But the adversary came in and tempted the man to do as he had done in the heavenly courts, namely, disobey God. In this way he overcame the man, and usurped the dominion. In disobeying God the man became obedient to the adversary. “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?”
By reason of the fall of man, a curse came upon the earth, and it brought forth thorns and thistles, and all manner of nauseous and poisonous plants, together with savage beasts, and sorrow and death. Thus was the original beauty of the earth marred. And the continued sin of the race brought about the complete change of the earth’s surface by the flood. Where once were the seas, there may now be seen the towering upheavals called mountains, and some places where the dry land was, is now covered with water. This is shown by shells of ocean being found on the mountain tops. Another evidence of the great change is the enormous coal beds, formed of the extensive antediluvial forests overturned and covered by the action of the awful Deluge.
NOTWITHSTANDING the general curse, and the effects of the flood, and the changed conditions from other causes, there are still scenes of grandeur that call forth praise to the almighty Creator from those who believe His Word. And there is enough in sight anywhere to convince even the “untutored mind” that these things were created and are sustained by some great Master Spirit. It is only the wisdom of man, inspired by the adversary whose purpose is the perversion and destruction of God’s Holy Word, that assumes to find evidence of chance work in the production of the earth and the wonderful works that it contains.
“O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! in wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are all things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. There go the ships; there is that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play therein. These wait upon Thee; that Thou mayest2 (322)give them meat in due season.” “The Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it; and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.”
