EVIDENTLY there was a time in the eternity of the past when there were no worlds, no heavens or earth. But the eternal One, knowing his power to create and fill the sea of space with countless millions of worlds, and fill them with intelligences,—"sons of God," "sons and daughters of the Almighty,"—these, made eternally happy in the fulness of his own love and power, set about the accomplishment of that "eternal purpose." Eph. 3:11. And so we read: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Gen. 1:1. "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. The Creator breathed the word, and the universe was filled with worlds. He gave the command, and there they stood. And to this day, and ever forward to all eternity yet to come, he sits "upholding all things by the word of his power." Heb. 1:3. What infinite power! Power divine! And shall finite mortals fear to trust in that power for salvation?
The Primitive Condition of the World.
The primitive physical condition of all the worlds may be known by that of this world, for it is by those things that we see that we may know of the things that we do not see. "For the invisible things of Him, even His eternal power and Godhead, are clearly seen in creation, being understood by the things that are made." Rom. 1:20, transposed. "And the earth was waste and void." Gen. 1:2, R. V. That is, the earth was empty of any living thing, either animal or vegetable. There could not be life, because life can not exist in the darkness. And as physical life is an utter impossibility without physical light, so spiritual life is an impossibility without Christ and his word. Apart from that word which brought all things into existence there can be no spiritual life, for "the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63. But the time came in the carrying out of this eternal purpose that God would beautify this world for the abode of one of his sons; for Adam "was the son of God" (Luke 3:38); and the
Holy Spirit Was the Agency.
Thus we read: "And the Spirit of God was brooding upon the face of the deep." Gen. 1:1, R. V. The Holy Spirit was brooding upon the world that it might be prepared for its great and final future. And as the earth was passive under that divine influence of the Holy Spirit, so we too, if we would be fitted for our great, possible, and final future, must remain passive under the brooding influence of the Spirit of God. And at the last we shall be reckoned in the great family of God, among the sons and daughters of the Almighty. Eph. 3:15.
The Spirit of God Made Man.
Man did not come by evolution, springing up from the lower order of animals; but he was created as one of the sons of God, in God's own image. After the world was beautified, after the God-breathed word brought light, abounding vegetation, and all the lower order of animals, then it was that the Holy Spirit in its brooding created man as the crowning work of the Master Artist. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." Job 33:4. And it is ever through the power of that same word in continued action that all the descendants of Adam have received life—but that life now has become mere animal life because of sin; but through the same brooding influence of the Holy Spirit we may be recreated and made again the sons of God. And so it is of a truth that, as Paul says by quoting one of the Athenian poets, "For we are also his offspring." And so being the offspring of God, he is "not far from every one of us; for in him we live, and move, and have our being." Acts 17:27, 28. Thus grand and noble is the ancestry of man. It is all "in him."
Man Was Upright, or Perfect.
Not like the full ripe corn in the ear was man in the beginning, but as the blade when it bursts the clod of the valley. Of course, being the offspring of God through the agency of the Holy Spirit of God, man could not, in the very nature of the case, be anything less than "upright," in the "image" of God. Eccl. 7:29; Gen. 1:26, 27. He was indeed created as one of the sons of God. As stated by a recent writer, "His [man's] nature was in harmony with the will of God. . . . His affections were pure; his appetites and passions were under the control of reason. He was holy and happy in bearing the image of God, and in perfect obedience to his will."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 45. And that same Holy Spirit which made man with appetites and passions, all under the control of reason, is still brooding over the fallen sons of God, that these same appetites and passions may be brought again under the control of reason, and man again be found in the image of the Creator.
In the Very Beginning.
It was therefore in the very beginning of the history of the race that the Spirit of God began its office work in this world. It was in the beginning that God sent forth the "Spirit of his Son into our hearts,"—the hearts of men,—that we might cry, Abba, Father. Gal. 4:6. For of a truth he is "our Father," the God and Father of all men by creation, and the Father of the believer through recreation. God chose "us in Him [Christ] before the foundation of the world." Eph. 1:4. The Creator put his own impress upon, and his own Spirit within, the heart of man at creation, that he might grow up into the perfect image of God, in character as well as in form. And thus it is of a truth that the light of Jesus Christ "lighteth every man that cometh into the world." John 1:9. And thus do we see that it is one of the most reasonable things in the world, in the very nature of the case, that the Holy Spirit should continue to brood over every soul of man to draw him to God.
The Perfect Image of God.
Therefore at the creation God left nothing undone for the perfect happiness of the race. And it was by the brooding influence of the Spirit that man was created and was to be brought up into the perfect image of the Creator, as well as in physical form. And though sin entered, and to some extent defaced the image of God in man, placing man where his appetites and passions control him, that same Spirit is still brooding over man, brooding over the race, wooing him to his Maker. And the perfect image of God in character will yet be restored unto all who will submit to the moulding influence of that same Spirit of God. Reader, will you submit to-day? Mercy still lingers for you. Yield now, before it is too late.
H. F. PHELPS.