CREATION AND REDEMPTION.
By w.
THE following extract represents a view of these great events which is exceedingly common:— “The work of creation cost but a word. ‘He spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast.’ The work of redemption cost infinitely more than creation. It cost the death of Christ. As the work of redemption is grander than that of creation, so the Lord’s day, which commemorates its completion, is higher, holier, grander than the Jewish Sabbath, that commemorates the completion of creation.” We never read such a statement without a feeling of sadness at the thought that it represents the limited ideas of the work of God, which are entertained by the great majority of people. Such statements do not indicate that the ones making them have exalted ideas of the work of redemption, but that their ideas of the work of creation are extremely narrow. It is the height of presumption for anybody to compare creation and redemption; for both are infinite, and far beyond human comprehension. Suppose you take a person who is unacquainted with geography, and place him in an elevated position on the Isthmus of Panama, where he can view at the same time the two oceans, the Atlantic and the Pacific. Now ask him which is the larger; if he expresses an opinion, it will be only a conjecture based on no foundation whatever; for he cannot see any difference. His eye can take in just as much of one as of the other, and for aught that his observation teaches to the contrary, they both stretch away into infinite space. Stand at the base of two mountains, whose peaks towering up into the sky, are lost in the clouds. Now tell, if you can, which is the higher. You say that you cannot, because you cannot see to the top of either one; and even if you could, your eye could not measure the difference between them, if there should be any. So it is with creation and redemption. Both works are the product of infinite power combined with infinite love, and could have been accomplished by nothing less. But if nothing but infinite power and infinite love could create or redeem the world, certainly nothing less than infinite wisdom can comprehend either one, much less grasp both in one thought, so as to compare them. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Heb. 11:3. Does that text say that we understand creation? Not at all; it says that we understand that the worlds were formed out of nothing, by the word of God. How do we understand this? Through faith; we know it simply because we believe the word of God, which declares it. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” “for he spake, and it was; he commanded, and it stood fast.” Ps. 33:6, 9. Here we have the statement of the fact which we understand only by faith. God spoke, and the worlds came into existence. How easily it was done! says one. Easily done? Yes, easily done by infinite power; but who can conceive of power that could by a word cause that to exist, which previously had no existence? Because God so easily accomplished the work of creation, are we therefore to esteem it a light thing? Far from it. Says the psalmist: “Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.” Why? “For he spake, and it was; he commanded and it stood fast.” The power of God as manifested in creation is a most stupendous thing, calling for wonder and awe. Let the one who thinks that the work of creation was a comparatively small affair, try to create something. Let him attempt to make a grain of sand. Let him attempt to make something out of nothing. Attempt! How can he attempt? What would be the first step? All the power of all the created intelligences in the universe is not equal to the creation of the smallest atom of matter. All the combined intelligence of man and angels cannot approach to the shadow of an imagination of how such a thing could be done. Yet God did it with a word. Does that statement depreciate the work of creation? Not by any means. It simply shows the inconceivable power of God. The Sabbath was given to man in order that he might contemplate the power of God, and so be led to greater reverence for him. But someone may say that it would become monotonous to meditate week after week upon one thing. Not unless the man is in one of the classes mentioned in Ps. 92:6. The creation of God, like himself, is infinite; and as man by searching cannot find out God, so as to know the Almighty to perfection (Job 11:7), so no man can ever fathom God’s creation. Only when we rightly understand the object of the Sabbath, can we appreciate the psalm for the Sabbath day:— “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High; to show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound. For thou, Lord, hast made me glad through thy work; I will triumph in the works of thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.” Ps. 92:1-6. It would be folly to attempt to convey to anyone, by words, any sense of the greatness of the work of creation. All that we can do is to tell the reader to meditate upon it. But let no one think that the work of creation was simply a manifestation of power. In the creation, God’s love is also manifested. Was it not unselfish love that caused God to create beings in his own image, capable of the highest pleasures, and setting before them an eternity of life, in which their mental and spiritual natures could continually develop, so as to make them capable of still higher enjoyment? Those who fail to see the love of God in creation, should remember that the great work of redemption is only for the purpose of bringing man to the enjoyment of that for which he was created. We are not comparing redemption with creation, for that is impossible; but we are showing that in the creation God manifested love as well as power. But if it is admitted that the love of God combined with his power, in creation, it must be admitted that the creation was the result of infinite love as well as of infinite power; for God, being infinite, must love to an infinite degree. The Sabbath,—the seventh day,—was instituted as a memorial of creation. This is necessarily admitted in the claim that Sunday should be kept instead of Saturday because redemption is greater than creation. Now the man who says that the Sabbath ought no longer to be kept, thereby says that God’s power and love should be no longer remembered. And that is equivalent to saying that God himself ought no longer to be remembered! And that is still further equivalent to saying that the work of redemption ought not to be considered; for God is Redeemer as well as Creator. In other words, no one can speak slightingly of the Sabbath as the memorial of creation, without disparaging the work of creation; but he who has narrow views of the love and power of God in creation, necessarily has narrow views of God himself; and he who has narrow views of God, cannot place a high estimate upon the work of redemption. And now we can better understand these words: “Moreover also I gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctifieth them.” Eze. 20:12. Of the greatness of redemption it is not necessary to speak here particularly. They who affect to compare creation and redemption, profess to adore the infinite love and power manifested in the gospel; although, as we have shown, they can have exalted ideas of this only in proportion as they entertain exalted views of God’s love and power in creation. Enough to say that the redemption of man is accomplished at an infinite cost. Says Paul: “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Eph. 3:8. And Peter says that even the angels desire (but in vain) to comprehend the love of God as manifested in the gospel. Should not so great a work as this be commemorated? Should not men have something to keep the great work of redemption in mind? Most assuredly, but not at the expense of the memorial of creation. The idea that men cannot show their appreciation of the plan of salvation without despising the work of God in the creation, is as monstrous as the idea that is sometimes advanced, that men cannot worship Christ without turning away from their allegiance to God! On this matter of recognizing the work of redemption, by some act, we have the following points to offer:— 1. The work of redemption, instead of having been completed at the resurrection, is not yet completed. Redemption is complete only when all the effects of the curse have been obliterated. When redemption is completed, there will be no further work to be done for man. That is the crowning act in the great plan of salvation. Christ is made unto us, “wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” Redemption is the last of all. It includes not only salvation from sin, but from death and the possibility of it. It includes also the renovation of the earth. Read a few texts:— Eph. 1:13, 14: “In whom [i.e., in Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” Here we see that the Spirit is given to those who believe, not because they are redeemed, but only as a pledge of their future redemption. Now read a still more direct statement concerning those who have this witnessing Spirit.200Rom. 8:22, 23: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” What this redemption of the body is, Paul shows in Phil. 3:20, 21:— “For our citizenship is in Heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.” Then it is utterly impossible to commemorate completed redemption, because we are yet waiting for redemption. 2. The work of redemption must be kept in mind, but by appropriate ceremonies. There is not an intimation in the entire Bible, that God would have us keep Sunday or any other day in commemoration of the work of redemption either partial or complete. When people do what the Bible does not tell them to do, they always make mistakes. In Eph. 1:7 and Col. 1:14 we are told that we have redemption through the blood of Christ. But his blood was shed upon Friday; must we therefore conclude that we must keep Friday? By no means. After giving the manner of celebrating the Lord’s Supper, Paul says: “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come.” 1 Cor. 11:26. There is a divinely appointed ordinance by which we can commemorate so much of the work of redemption as has been completed. But is there nothing as a memorial of the glorious resurrection of Christ? Indeed there is. Says Paul: “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” Rom. 6:3, 4. In baptism we have a memorial both of the death and the resurrection of Christ. “Oh, but,” says one, “that is only a single act; we want a constantly recurring memorial of the resurrection.” We submit that the Lord knows what we want, far better than we do; but it is a mistake to say that the remembrance of the resurrection lies only at the beginning of the Christian life. Read again: “That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk [every day] in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [all our lives] in the likeness of his resurrection.” So the whole Christian life, if it is indeed a Christian life, is a constant likeness of the resurrection of Christ. We have only touched upon this great theme, but we have indicated the proper lines for thought upon it. We find that we do not have to belittle one part of God’s work, in order to rightly appreciate another part. On the contrary, we cannot properly appreciate one part of his work without exalting every other part, for all are related. Both creation and redemption are to be ever kept in mind. By the Lord’s Supper we show the Lord’s death till he come to redeem us; and then we will “sing the song of Moses the servant of God [Ex. 15:1-19], and the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:2, 3)—celebrating redemption completed. And then will creation itself be commemorated as it should be, for then will men properly appreciate the love and power of God; therefore “it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 66:23.