THE HOLY SPIRIT IN CREATION.
By H. A. St. John
“And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Gen. 1:2. It appears to be beautifully and undisputably true that the Holy Spirit is the executive of the Godhead. Law emanates from the Father, mercy and judgment are committed to the Son, while the executive of both the Father and the Son is the ever-blessed Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit the Father and the Son operate in the creation and upholding of worlds, and in reproving, regenerating, and sanctifying human souls. The Holy Spirit is the indispensable agent in the production of spiritual life, both in its incipiency and in its fulness. In the beginning “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” We are told that the Hebrew sense of “moved upon” is, “brooded over like a mother dove.” What a beautiful figure! For one week, the first week of measured time to this world, the Holy Spirit brooded over a stupendous mass of matter. But each day there was a rapid and progressive unfolding, until the seventh day is reached, when all the angels of God, an innumerable host, beheld a beautiful world, all completed, furnished, and embellished. The crowning event was the making of the seventh day, a delightful memorial, blessed and hallowed by the Creator, to be remembered and kept holy, in all future time, in memory of God’s wondrous work of creation, performed by the Lord Jesus, through the almighty agency of the Holy Spirit. We may imagine with what intense interest, and constantly enkindling rapture and enthusiasm, the angelic host watched the unfolding of this world in its primitive and pristine glory; and we are not surprised to learn, that, at its completion, that first Sabbath was welcomed right then and there, by the morning stars singing together and all the sons of God shouting for joy. But in a little while that hateful thing called sin, was allowed to enter in, and under its blighting and killing influence this beautiful world began to sink under the curse of death, and will continue thus to sink until it reaches the bottomless pit, the condition of emptiness, chaos, and darkness, that it was in at the beginning. God’s hatred of sin will then have spread desolation everywhere. Again will the time come when the Holy Spirit will brood over the desolate and shapeless mass, and again will come forth new heavens and a new earth, more glorious than at the first. And again, the grand unfolding and completion of the new heavens and new earth, the morning stars, and all the sons of God, will be witnesses, and again will they sing together, and all shout for joy. And the best of all is, dear reader, you and I may be numbered with the sons of God then, and join with harp, heart, and voice, in the second rendition of that matchless creation anthem, which will fill and thrill the universe of God. All mankind is a part of the fallen creation, the sentence of death for sin is upon us all. We can never be delivered therefrom, we can never join in the new creation anthem of praise until we ourselves, personally, are created anew. This the Lord is continually doing for lost souls, through the same divine agency employed in the original creation. The Holy Spirit broods over the sinner, convincing and convicting of sin. If the sinner yields by confession and true repentance, he is born again, a child of God. Then angels and heaven, beholding, rejoice. Now continues the gloriously begun work of unfolding the new life. Angels rejoice at its progress, and are sad when the work is retarded. The grand work goes on continuously if the soul is continuously submissive under the regenerating and sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit, until the bright Morning Star appears on the scene, and last of all the vile body, all marred and scarred by sin, is changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and fashioned like the glorious body of the glorified Jesus. Then the new creation of the new race will be completed, to live forever in that New Jerusalem, and in the new heavens and the new earth; and when that has been accomplished, the ministering angels, morning stars, and all the redeemed sons of God, will shout and sing together, with a joy that will be everlasting, unspeakable, and full of glory. H. A. ST. JOHN