THE MEDIUM OF LIFE by William Covert

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 4, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 18.

THE MEDIUM OF LIFE.

By William Covert

BY WILLIAM COVERT.

THE Creator is represented as giving material form to His thoughts by speaking. Necessarily all created things had a formal beginning. There was a time and a way in which they were started on their mission. When it suited the purpose of God to have our own world occupy its place among His works, He called for it. Before the call, it existed in His thoughts. When He had spoken the word, it was in its place. His word was potent to generate and form it. The same word that set it going, holds it in place, and keeps it going; for it is said: "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 done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Ps. 33:6, 9.

The agency that gives life must possess life. Christ said, "The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." John 6:63. Every word of God is designed to accomplish a definite thing. "For 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 whereunto I sent it." Isa. 55:10, 11.

In an apostrophe to all created things, David says: "Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts. . . . Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens. Let them praise the name of the Lord; for He commanded, and they were created. He hath also stablished them forever and ever; He hath made a decree which shall not pass." Ps. 148:2-6.

Art and Creation.

Creative power does not construct things out of visible material. Art is not, as some have said, the complement of creation. The growing of the oak is creation, but the cutting into lumber, and the making into desks, are works of art. The first builds up; the second destroys. One is exhibition of life; the other is a separation from life. Art tears down the work of creation that it may construct itself. Creation, through the living word, calls into being worlds that had no previous existence. "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.

Every design bears witness to the existence of the designer. Every visible thing testifies that there is an invisible power which gave it being. Men compound and construct out of things which are made to their hand. Not so with creation. When God works, He simply speaks the word, and the thing desired comes forth. In this manner He formed the world. Upon it He placed mountains. Within the mountains He put mines of ore. Out of the ore man has constructed all kinds of instruments. He has made the simple pocket-knife, and the complicated steam engine. Yet in all the works of men there is nothing like creation. Men who labor in shops destroy created things that from them they may construct their implements.

In the field of art, men try to imitate things in nature; but the productions of the brush and the chisel remind the naturalist more of death than of life; they oftener start tears of grief than smiles of joy. They deepen rather than relieve mourning.

Art leads its devotees to admire that which has no life. The painter gives us a lifeless picture. The sculptor places before his friends a cold, hard stone. The taxidermist takes the life of a beautiful animal, and tries to preserve the remains for the cabinet of some one who imagines himself to be a lover of nature. But would it not be better to go to the homes of these creatures, and there study God through the life which He has given them? The secrets of their lives can be learned if they themselves are properly studied.

In the most exquisite production of art, even that particular piece which the classic ardently admires, is not found the lesson for study that may be learned from the simplest leaf in the forest. The tiniest insect which makes its home upon the foliage of some plant, or the lowliest worm that crawls at our feet, can never be equaled in their structure, by the art of man. He that plucks the wild flower of the glen, or gathers flakes of moss from the lone rock, mars a form more beautiful than painter ever drew with brush or weaver ever formed in loom.

Life from the Word.

All life must come from God, and it has pleased Him to make His word a medium of transmission.

The life which man receives through fleshly birth is adulterated with sin, tainted by disease, and must soon pass away. But that which comes through the word of redemption is free from sin.

Concerning the nature of God's word, and what it does for the believer, the apostle uses these expressive words: "Born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. . . . And this is the word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." 1 Peter 1:23-25.

Every organic thing grows from some seed which God has endowed with life after its kind. Every perfect seed properly planted in the soil under favorable conditions gives birth to a new life. It works in harmony with a law which operates through the whole scale of nature, so that life, operating through the agency of a plant, builds the mineral into organic form. This form is called a vegetable. Life through the vegetable seed transforms the plant food and raises it into a higher kingdom.

The spiritual kingdom works in lines parallel with the physical realm. Man is grasped by the power of the life in the incorruptible seed (1 Peter 1:23), and borne upward to become a partaker of the divine nature. The Christian is "rooted and built up in Him." Col. 2:7. "For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in Him, which is the head of all principality and power; in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead." Col. 2:9-12. "But we all, with unveiled face, reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory." 2 Cor. 3:18, R. V. The transforming power comes from life, and lifts man into glory. It is the life of the incorruptible seed working in humanity that transforms man into a new creature. Thus man is born from above, and the divine image is restored. This birth will be completed physically in the resurrection.

The Word Distilled.

The beautiful way in which God imparts divine life to man is told in the last song of Moses: "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, My speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass." Deut. 32:2.

The newborn plant thrives best when watered in mildness by the dewdrops, or by the gentle rain falling in spray upon it. The heavy, beating pour, or the storm of hail upon the tender herb, are agencies of death. So do hard words bruise the tender spirit of others, while gentle words impart life to the soul.

The farmer desires, not the noisome visitation upon his fields, but the copious shower; for it dissolves the elements of earth, and provides healthful food for the plant. In like manner does the living word of God fall as the dew of heaven or the rain of summer upon the thirsty soul. The Christian is strengthened with all might, because he is held in the divine word. "He [Christ] shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth." Ps. 72:6. It is the living Christ in the word that draws man to God.

Growing like the Lily.

There is no flower that exceeds the lily in loveliness. Its rich fragrance is sweeter than the odor of incense. It is this gem of the valley and mountain that the Son of God uses as an emblem of the divine life. "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." Matt. 6:28, 29.

The lily grows, but not by its own care or effort. It increases, but not by its own planning or anxiety. It feeds upon the appointed elements of the soil, which are transformed by divine power into a vision of gorgeous splendor.

God provides every plant with multitudes of rootlets. To each fiber is given a mouth that drinks in the milk of nature, that has been dissolved by the moisture placed in the earth for that purpose. The life in the plant, tho it is only a vegetable, enables it to transform its food elements into a wonderful exhibition of God's glory.

When God, through this living way, has decorated the plant with glory, and perfumed the air with fragrance, He has more than equaled all the splendor of Solomon's kingdom. It could be said of Solomon's grandeur, as he sat in kingly robes upon his ivory throne overlaid with gold, "There was not the like made in any kingdom." 2 Chron. 9:19. Yet the child that possesses one lily may behold in it a treasure richer than all the glory that art expended upon Solomon.

Let Christians think more upon these beautiful symbols of divine power, and less about the vanities of human greatness. That which is esteemed as greatness often proves in the end to be only the evidence of folly and weakness.

Incarnation of the Word.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. . . . And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." John 1:1-14. Christ was made the embodiment of the Father's Word when He dwelt in human flesh. He was a brother tempted in all points like us, and yet without sin. Heb. 4:15. He came to show us how to live in the flesh, and yet to live by the Word. In all His temptations He rested wholly in the Word. In every onset His weapon was the Word.

When suffering the pangs of hunger, He was asked to use His divine power to make bread from stones, and thus obtain food. His reply was, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Matt. 4:4.

When the tempter suggested that He throw Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, and thereby prove His divinity, He answered, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Verse 7. When He was offered all the kingdoms of earth if He would fall before Satan and worship him, He said, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."