Man as Created by Charles L. Taylor

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Apr 2, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 14.

Man as Created

By Charles L. Taylor

MAN! How frail, and yet how wonderful! Who is he? Whence did he come? Whither does he go?

Schoolboy questions are these; but, notwithstanding, they are questions which have engrossed the attention of the world's greatest thinkers from times immemorial.

"What Is Man?"

This was the earnest inquiry of the psalmist, addressed to Jehovah Himself. "When I consider Thy heavens," said he, "the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?" Ps. 8: 3, 4.

But while in wonder and amazement the psalmist thus questioned his Maker, he makes it plain that his question was of faith, and one designed to magnify the love and wisdom of God. For—and please note the fact—he points back to the beginning, when man first came from the Creator's hand, and says, "Thou hast made him . . . and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands." Verses 5, 6.

Man's origin, man's nature, man's calling and destiny, are here all pointed out. The simple story of Genesis is at once an all-comprehensive account of life, one that tells all which need be known, one that removes all misunderstandings, dissipates all doubts, annihilates all fears, and opens up the great and otherwise unrevealed future.

There was a time when man differed very materially from what he is now. The writer to the Hebrews makes this plain when he states (chapter 2:8): "Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. . . . But now we see not yet all things put under him." A change has taken place. The dominion once enjoyed has passed away. Man is no longer ruler over all. Something has been lost. And whatever that loss was, it necessitated the gift of the Son of God. Only through Him and by Him can man again become what he once was, and attain to the calling which once he enjoyed.

The great plan of salvation is to restore what was. "The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." What man was, he will again become. What man had, he will again possess.

What Was Man?

Let the reader first take the record: "And 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. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Gen. 1: 26-28.

An interesting and comprehensive comment upon the creation of man is made by the wise man. "Lo, this only have I found," says he, "that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions." Eccl. 7: 29.

Placing the two scriptures side by side, we may readily see that man was created a morally perfect being, in the image of God, a "son of God." We may see that as a prince of God he was to have dominion; that to this end he was brought into being. We may see, also, that as a ruler, he was subject to the higher government of God, amenable to Jehovah's law, an agent who should be held accountable for his conduct. In other words, he was a free moral agent, placed on test, with opportunity to develop character.

In such an arrangement, time was an essence of the contract. A certain period—how long, we can not say—was required and stipulated in which man was to demonstrate his absolute fidelity to the principles of the divine government, and at its close to receive the seal of approval which would make eternally sure to him the gifts which he had previously held in trust. That period of test we call probationary time.

Now, in the light of the foregoing, the reader will most readily discover that whatever of life, or of righteousness, or of dominion, man held at creation, it must have been but relative, held subject to the general plan of test and trial. If he maintained his loyalty, then he continued in possession; if he failed, then all was to be taken away.

This principle was plainly and forcibly declared when God first placed man in the garden. "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden

thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Obey, and thou shalt live; disobey, and thou shalt die. Prove true, and continue to possess what I have granted; prove untrue, and have all taken away.

Man was made "a living soul." Gen. 2: 7. God's great life current flowed to him and through him. Man was simply the channel. Obedience—a willing heart beating in sympathy and love and unison with Divinity—kept open the channel and made it possible for the God-life ever to find inlet and outlet.

Man received of the divine life, but the life was not inherent in man. Life inheres in God only. With Him is the fountain and source of all life. Ps. 36: 9; John 1: 1, 4. It is He "which holdeth our soul in life" (Ps. 66: 9); and "in Him we live, and move, and have our being" (Acts 17: 28). He alone is the I AM, the self-existent One. Ex. 3: 14.

Using a familiar figure, God was the great dynamo of life power. Connected with that wonderful creative center by the wires of faith and loving obedience, man enjoyed the veriest fulness of divine energy which ever flowed for his uplifting and upbuilding, and which brought divine character and divine beauty as a natural fruitage. But it was within man's power, if he so chose, to break the connection—to turn the switch, if you please—and so instantly to lose all.

The Tree of Life was in the midst of the garden. Gen. 2: 9. Continued access to the tree was necessary to the continuance of life. Separation from the tree meant separation from the source of life. The loss of the tree meant man's death. Hence the word, In the day thou eatest of the tree which is forbidden, in that day thou shalt lose access to the tree which I have granted.

Laying aside the various theories regarding the soul of man, and taking the simple story of the Word of God, how easily we may discover the great fact that man's life, from the very beginning, has been only a borrowed life, which may be held only by faith and obedience. Had the plan been otherwise; had man been granted an absolute hold on life; had it been impossible for him to lose and die,—then it had been impossible to have had any test and consequently any lasting character for good.

Thank God, dear reader, for the wisdom shown in the great plan of creation.

Next week "Man as Deceived" will be considered.