Review and Herald, Vol. 43, No. 17. (4/7/1874)

Review and Herald

Apr 7, 1874

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 7, 1874

THE MEMORIAL OF CREATION.

By John Nevins Andrews

BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS.

TEXT: “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.

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a record of the mighty deeds of faith. At the very head of the list, the apostle places the act of grasping a certain great truth. That truth is the declaration that God framed the worlds out of material that did not previously exist. This creative act is the highest display of omnipotent power of which we can conceive. We cannot elevate our minds to see how such a work is possible, even for infinite power.

The grandest sight in nature is a view of the starry heavens in a clear night. At one glance the eye takes in the host of heaven, or rather what is visible of this host to a spectator standing upon our earth. These are the worlds that God has made. But if we could be placed back some six thousand years in the past, and from that point survey the vast abyss of space now studded with the stars of heaven, what should we behold? Blank nothing. The host of heaven did not then exist. Our earth itself had not arisen into being. The vast infinity of space was literally, as Job expresses it, “the empty place,” and that which filled it was “nothing.” Job 26: 7. Utter and profound darkness rested upon the great void. Even the materials which subsequently formed the worlds had no existence.

But the moment at last arrived which, in the counsels of Infinite Wisdom, had been fixed for the great creative act. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” Gen. 1: 1. “He spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.” “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.” Ps. 33: 6, 9. When the Creator had thus spoken, every element came into being which he purposed to use in framing the worlds. But chaos now existed as the first result of the Creator’s work. The condition of our world at the moment of its creation may doubtless be safely accepted as the real condition of all the worlds that sprang into existence at the same instant, and in obedience to the same mandate. And thus we read of our globe: “And the earth was without form and void.” Its materials now existed, but they had no order. They were without form, a strong indication that even gravitation was not in existence at the moment of their creation; else it would at once have given the earth a globular form. And the earth was void, i. e., destitute of living creatures and even of living plants. Darkness reigned supreme. Not one ray of light mingled with its utter blackness.

“The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” Gen. 1: 2. And now the earth, yielding to the law of gravitation, becomes a sphere, or globe, and, as a consequence of this, its whole surface is covered with water, a condition which remained unchanged till the third day. “And God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” This is the next step in the Creator’s work. How God gave existence to light is above our comprehension. But he did it, and it has never ceased to exist. And now he separates the light from the darkness. He calls the one day and the other night. This is why in the divine order the night makes the first division of the twenty-four hours. And Moses tells us that the evening and the morning, i. e., the night and the day, were the first day. This is a decisive proof that the days of the Mosaic record were such days as an evening and morning constitute, i. e., days of twenty-four hours. Otherwise the record is utterly unreliable, and calculated to mislead. If it be objected that a day of twenty-four hours is inadequate to the work of the first day of time, the answer is that this is all true, if the work of creation be considered the work of nature; for if nature had to create itself, all eternity would be insufficient for the work. But if an infinite Creator called the worlds into existence out of nothing, and framed them out of materials that before had no existence, then the period of twenty-four hours was quite adequate for the work of the first day of time.

The next thing in order in the work of creation was the act of giving existence to our atmosphere. The firmament, or heaven, which divides the waters from the waters, is the air. It is this in which the fowls fly above the earth. Gen. 1: 20. The waters above the firmament are the clouds, the waters under the firmament are those upon our earth. At the time our atmosphere was created, the whole face of the earth was water, for it was not till the next day that the dry land appeared. The atmosphere being denser than the mists and fogs and vapors that form the clouds, they are borne aloft by it. God called this firmament, or atmosphere, heaven. It is the first, or atmospheric, heaven that was thus created. And now the second day being ended, Moses tells what kind of a day it was: “The evening and the morning were the second day.” It was therefore such a day as night and day constitute, i. e., it was a day of twenty-four hours. The atmosphere being created, and the fog and vapor being lifted from the face of the waters, the Creator next causes the dry land to appear. “And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he seas; and God saw that it was good.” Gen. 1: 9, 10. The surface of the earth was now changed by the immediate power of the Creator. One portion was depressed to receive the waters that covered the earth, and another and larger portion was elevated above the waters to constitute the dry land. Probably a very large portion of the water was stored within the earth itself, whence at the time of the flood it came forth, when the fountains of the great deep were broken up.

And now the dry land having been formed, and the atmosphere and the light having been already created, God fills the earth with vegetable life. And God caused the earth to bring forth grass, and herbs, and trees. And at the close of the third day we are again certified that the day was composed of an evening and a morning, i. e., that it was a twenty-four-hour day. Verse 13.

On the fourth day, God caused the sun and moon and stars to appear as light-bearers in the heavens. By this, we are not to understand that these heavenly bodies were this day created; for they were doubtless included in the work of the creation of “the heaven” on the first day. As the earth during the first three days underwent a great transformation, we may reasonably conclude that a like work was carried forward in the heavenly bodies during that time. And thus, when the fourth day arrived, they were ready to be made light-bearers to the earth. And at that point God gave them the office of giving light to the earth, and of measuring time for its inhabitants. And now, for the fourth time, Moses assures us that the days of creation were composed of day and night; in other words, they were such days as those we now have. And this is confirmed most strikingly in the fact that such days as Gen. 1 brings to view, it informs us were subjected to the rule of the sun—a sufficient proof that the days of that chapter are the natural divisions of time, and not vast, indefinite periods, of whose duration we can have no conception. Verses 14–19.

On the fifth day, God peopled the waters with every variety of fish, and caused abundance of fowls to fly in the open firmament of heaven. And God was pleased with the work his hands had wrought. And, for the fifth time, we are told that the day was composed of evening and morning, or night and day, an expression which cannot be explained otherwise than according to its simple and obvious import, that a day of twenty-four hours was intended. Verses 20–23.

The work of the sixth day was to create the beasts of the field, and every kind of animal that moves upon the face of the earth. And when this great work was thus perfected, last of all, he created man in his own image, and made him ruler over all his works. The earth was full of God’s blessing. And the Creator surveyed everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And again the Holy Spirit gives the kind of time used in this record: “The evening and the morning were the sixth day”; that is, the sixth day was a day composed of day and night like the days we now have. “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” Gen. 2: 1. How vast the work of the six days! Before it began, the infinity of space was simply an abyss of darkness, having nothing in it out of which to form the works of creation. When the six days were ended, an infinite number of worlds had arisen into existence. God had framed them out of things which before did not exist. To grasp this great truth is an act of faith which Paul places with strict propriety at the head of his list of the mighty deeds of faith.

The psalmist tells us that “the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.” And he adds: “He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered.” Ps. 111: 2, 4. Certainly, the greatest of all his works, and that which surpasses every other in its manifestation of infinite power, is the creation of the heavens and the earth. This is the most wonderful of all the works of his hands. This great work is worthy of being sought out of all them that have pleasure therein. God wrought this wonderful work to be remembered; that is, he designed that men who owe their existence to the creation of the heavens and the earth, and of mankind upon the earth, should never forget that he had wrought this work, and that he was their Creator. Indeed, it is this great fact that he appeals to as distinguishing himself from all false gods. And thus he speaks by Jeremiah: “Thus shall ye say unto them, the gods that have NOT MADE THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.” Jer. 10: 11. But he speaks thus of himself: “The Lord is the true God; he is the living God, and an everlasting king. . . . HE HATH MADE THE EARTH by his power, he hath established the world by his wisdom, and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion.” Jer. 10: 10, 12.

One of the highest acts of faith is to grasp the existence of an uncreated Being who has called into existence, out of nothing, an infinite host of worlds. To believe this great truth, which Paul makes so prominent an act of faith, we must credit the testimony of the Scriptures; for he tells us that “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Rom. 10: 17. But faith without works is dead, being alone. No human being can have so perfect a theoretical faith in this great truth as has Satan. But his faith in it is of no benefit to himself. If our faith in this cardinal truth of revelation is of greater value to us than Satan’s faith to himself, it must produce certain acts of obedience by which our love for the truth we believe is made manifest. And thus the apostle James states the case: “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” James 2: 19, 20.

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God.” But by what act of obedience do we manifest our love for this great truth? And by what good work do we show that our faith in the creation of the heavens and the earth is not a dead faith? If God made his wonderful works to be remembered, how are we to remember our Creator? If the creation of the heavens and the earth distinguishes the true God from all false gods, by what acts are we to preserve in our minds the memory of this work of infinite power?

To answer these questions, we have only to return to the record of the creation in Genesis 1 and 2. The close of the sixth day witnessed the perfection of the Creator’s work. He surveyed all the works of his hands, and behold they were all very good. With the beginning of the seventh day, God’s work of creation ceased. And thus we read: “And on the seventh day, God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it; because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” Gen. 2: 2, 3.

The record tells us what God did on the seventh day as distinctly as it relates what he did on the six days of creation which preceded it. His work was wrought in six days. On the seventh day he rested from that work. He did not rest because of

weariness, for the Creator of the heavens and the earth cannot be wearied. Isa. 40: 28. He made the seventh day his rest-day in order that he might set up an everlasting memorial of his creative work. For when he had rested upon the day, he blessed it, and sanctified or hallowed it. He blessed the seventh day because he had rested upon it, which shows that the day of God’s rest was past when he blessed the seventh day. He did not bless the day because he was about to rest upon it, but because he had rested upon it. So it is evident that the blessing was placed upon the seventh day for time to come in honor of what God had done upon that day. And thus also with respect to the sanctification of the seventh day. God sanctified it because he had rested upon it. He did not sanctify the day because he purposed to rest upon it, but because he had rested upon it. The sanctification cannot be placed upon a day after it has ceased to exist. And hence God did not sanctify the first seventh day of time because he had made it his rest-day; for when he had thus rested, the day had expired; but he sanctified the seventh day for time to come, in memory of his own rest on that day from the work of creation.

To sanctify is to set apart, or appoint to a holy use. And here we learn at the very beginning of the Bible that God appointed the seventh day to a holy use. He did it because that in it he had rested from all his work. So it is incontestable that the seventh day was appointed to a holy use in order that God’s rest from creation might be remembered. And this appointment must have been made to Adam and Eve, for they were the ones who had the days of the week to use. The fact, therefore, is undeniable that God bade Adam set apart the seventh day for sacred rest in memory of his own rest upon that day.

Here, then, we find the memorial of the creation of the heavens and the earth. The seventh day was set apart to a holy use because God had rested upon it from all his work which he created and made. So the creation which called the elements into existence, and the making of the earth out of those elements, are here distinguished from each other, and both are included in the commemorative rest. He rested from the six days of creation. God made his works to be remembered; and no sooner was his work complete than he set up a lasting memorial of that work. He hallowed every seventh day, that man might remember God, his Creator. And that man might grasp the great truth that God, in his infinite power, spoke into existence, from nothing, the heaven and the earth, he ordained, at the very beginning, one grand act of obedience by which his faith in that truth should be declared, and his love for it made manifest. The observance of the Creator’s rest-day is that act of obedience by which we declare our faith in God as the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

To profess faith in God as the Creator of all things, and to pay no attention to the memorial which he ordained to keep the work of creation in lasting remembrance, is to have, in this respect, a dead faith. We thus profess to know God; but in works we deny him. We have faith without works. Our faith in the one God, who, by his sovereign power, framed the worlds out of materials which did not before exist, is like the faith of the devils, a dead faith, because that grand act of obedience which was ordained to express that faith we do not perform. And we are not to think that there is no need of this effort to maintain a faith in the one God who in six days created heaven and earth, and rested on the seventh.

The world is full of atheism. The Sabbath is the grand bulwark against that fatal error. Its observance by the people of God is a solemn protest against atheism, and a public confession, by works corresponding to their faith, that they believe the record of the creation of the heavens and the earth. The atheist has no faith in the record of the creation. To him the rest-day of the Creator is of no account whatever. But, with men believing the Bible record of the creation, the case is different. They confess their faith in the six days of the Creator’s work, and his rest upon the seventh, and that he set apart the day because he had rested upon it. If their works correspond with their faith, they will regard the rest-day of the Lord. Can the Christian, who believes the record of the creation, and the atheist, who denies the existence of the Creator himself, both act alike in disregarding the rest-day of the Lord? See the believer in the record of the first seven days of time. When the seventh day, which the Creator set apart in memory of his own rest on that day, arrives, he lays aside all labor, and rests from all his work. Every one understands the act. But the atheist continues his labors as on other days. His works are consistent with his unbelief. But what shall be said of those Christians who imitate in their works the conduct of the atheist? Surely, the observance of the Creator’s rest-day is the proper act of obedience by which we manifest our faith in God as the Creator. And whatever the intention, the violation of the rest-day of the Lord is practical atheism.

God set apart the seventh day in paradise. This proves that the observance of the Sabbath is not a carnal ordinance, for it was instituted before sin entered our world. It was not ordained to commemorate the flight of Israel from Egypt, for the children of Israel did not flee out of Egypt till more than two thousand years after this. It was not an institution ordained for the Jews, for it began with the human race, and thus preceded the existence of the Hebrew people for many ages. But the most remarkable fact that appears in this record is, that this memorial was needed even in the garden of God. Though man could converse with God face to face, yet every week by the most impressive act, Adam was called to remember and acknowledge God as his Creator. The rest-day of God was set apart, not as a mere rest from wearisome toil, for Adam had almost as little occasion for rest from weariness in paradise as had the Creator from his work of infinite might, but as a day when man should desist from everything else and think of God.

And even the very manner of this observance was exactly calculated to bring to remembrance the grand fact that distinguished God from all other beings, viz., the fact that he had created the heavens and the earth. He must rest as God rested, and on the very day that he rested. And thus doing, God, his Creator, could never be forgotten, nor the relation which God sustains to all other beings, and to all things, ever pass out of mind. It was a day of worship in the highest sense, in that it reminded man of his relation to God, and kept the great facts respecting the origin of all things vividly before the mind. Man must rest on that day, not because he specially needed rest on account of weariness, nor because rest on a certain day of the week is better calculated to give him relief than resting upon some other day would be. But he must rest in memory of what the Creator did, that he might not forget his infinite obligation to that great Being who had given him existence.

The record in Gen. 2: 1–3, is worthy of our most careful attention for the remarkable distinctness, brevity, and freedom from ambiguity, which characterize it. 1. It is certain that God rested upon the first seventh day of time. 2. That he did not bless and sanctify the day because he was about to rest upon it, but because he had rested upon it. 3. And hence it was not the first seventh day of time which he blessed and set apart, for that had expired when he performed these acts. 4. And thus it is evident that the blessing and sanctification related to the seventh day, for time to come. 5. This was done because God had rested upon that day, showing that it was in memory of that event. 6. God placed his blessing upon the day, thus making it a more precious day than any other. 7. He appointed the day to a holy use, thus making it obligatory upon Adam and his posterity to observe it. 8. And it is also to be observed that he did not bless the institution of the Sabbath, and sanctify that as a movable thing which could be placed upon one day or another, just as it might best suit the circumstances. Nothing is said of a Sabbath institution. God rested the seventh day. God blessed the seventh day. God set apart the seventh day to a holy use. 9. This indeed made the Sabbath. Or, if the reader chooses to use the expression, this was the setting up of the Sabbath institution. But the seventh day was the recipient of all the things which God conferred. The rest, the blessing, and the sanctification, pertained to that alone. When, therefore, some other day is taken, every element that constitutes the Sabbath is left out of the account and lost. When another day is taken, we get that which God never rested upon; and as he blessed the seventh day because he had rested upon it, when we take some other day besides that of God’s rest, we take a day which God has not blessed. As he sanctified the day on which he rested, and which he had for that reason blessed, when we take one of the six days which God employed in the work of creation, we take a day which has not one element of the Sabbatic institution pertaining to it. Certainly there are but seven days in the week. The first six days God did not rest. On the seventh day he did rest. These facts can never be changed. We cannot place the blessing and sanctification on any day only the one of God’s rest, for they are conferred upon it because of that rest. And we cannot change the rest from the day on which he rested to one on which he wrought in creation. Not even Omnipotence can do this. And thus the definite seventh day stands out with the utmost distinctness.

It cannot, therefore, be denied, except by doing violence to the sacred narrative, that the creation of the heavens and the earth was immediately followed by the establishment of a divine memorial of that grand event. And it is evident that this memorial is to be observed as an act of obedience whereby our faith in the creation of the heavens and the earth is shown to be a living faith. Those who profess faith in this great truth do thereby acknowledge themselves under obligation to manifest that faith by observing the memorial ordained by the Creator for that very purpose. Those who neglect this memorial, render their faith in this fundamental doctrine of the Bible a dead faith. God’s great bulwark against atheism was never so much needed as in the last days of our world’s history. We have come down some six thousand years from paradise. Darkness now covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. Surely, an institution that was needed in paradise, when man conversed face to face with God, is needed a thousand-fold more in these days of awful apostasy and atheism. We have not yet ceased to be under sacred obligation to the almighty Creator, and it is in the highest degree proper that we, by the observance of that institution which he has ordained for the very purpose, should humbly acknowledge that obligation.

EMBLEMS

Pearls of the ocean ! If we should say Nought is more beautiful Than your mild ray, What of the gates of pearl Shining afar?— When likened unto them, Rayless you are.

Ruby and sapphire, Lustrous and bright, Rosy and purple, Rejoicing the sight;— Yet, is not wisdom Which eye shall endure, More precious than ruby, Than sapphire more pure?

Tender green emerald ! Say, can there be Aught in the earth or sky Fairer than thee? Yes, for the rainbow Which circles the throne Gleams like no emerald, Mortals have known!

Diamond ! that catchest Each ray from the sun, Brilliant thou art With the light thou hast won. But, when I think of The crown of the saint ; Dull seems thy radiance, Thy luster, how faint !

Bright gems and jewels ! The home of your birth Often is found in Dark places of earth;— And, when God gathers His jewels, the meek, Not the world's mighty, Are those he will seek.

So, when our eyes In earth's beauties rejoice, Let them remind us With many a voice, That all these treasures Our Father has given Only as emblems Of treasures in Heaven !

—Sel.

Signs of the Nearing Advent of Christ.

By Horatius Bonar

BY HORATIUS BONAR, D. D.

THE NIGHT COMETH! Nor does it seem far off. It never appeared so nigh. The shadows are lengthening out, and falling with ominous gloom upon the valleys of earth. The dimness of twilight is beginning to make itself felt. It is settling down drearily upon our cities and on our solitudes; upon the towers of our strength and the places of our pomp; nor can the noisy rush of eager multitudes, hurrying to and fro for gain or pleasure, wholly stifle the utterance of fear and awe. Men cannot help foreboding evil, for who can tell them what may be in the womb of darkness? The night-birds are already on the wing, flitting around us, and reminding us of the descending night.

The signs of Christ’s second advent that have been given us both by the Lord and his apostles are both notable and numerous. And it is very evident that those have been selected which were the most expressive and least ambiguous. They are chosen as being the most prominent and explicit that could be given. It cannot be thought that the least striking have been announced and the most striking concealed. If so, then is it not very remarkable that the millennium of a thousand years (Revelation 20) is never mentioned as a sign at all? Had this been to take place before the second advent, how has it never been alluded to as one of the signs? It would have been by far the most distinct and visible. No one could overlook or mistake it. Yet nowhere, by prophets or apostles, or by the Lord himself, is it noted as a sign. How can this be accounted for save upon the ground that it was to take place after, not before, the advent? If this be admitted, all is plain; if it be denied, then let those who deny it account for the fact that, among the many signs of the advent, the millennium is never mentioned as one. How the most palpable of them all could be omitted, seems to me to require an explanation. On the post-millennial system, the omission seems to me inexplicable. For thus our Lord would be made to profess to tell us the signs of his appearing, and yet to conceal the most notable of them all. But this is not all. The signs which are given are inconsistent with the idea of a millennium before the second advent. Who that reads the Lord’s prophecy in Matthew 24, which begins with the destruction of Jerusalem and ends with his second appearing in the clouds of heaven, does not feel that the whole drift of it was to show the church that they were to expect sorrow, not joy, tribulation, not triumph, up till the time when he should return? These signs were the successive crests of the billows on which she was to be tossed, till he, with his own voice and presence, should rebuke and calm the ocean. The simple omission, then, of the millennium as a sign, is a fact on which we ought to lay much stress; but the omission of it in circumstances which preclude the possibility of its being a thing reserved or merely unspoken, furnishes a strong argument in proof of a pre-millennial advent.

Let me now note some of the signs which in the present day seem most remarkable as forerunners of the Lord’s appearing. And though of some of these it might be said that they have been found in former days, yet others of them, as we shall see, are peculiar to our own.

1. Wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, pestilences, and famines in divers places. (Matt. 24:6, 7.) I need not enter minutely into the proof of the existence of these. The public journals bear witness to it. For a while, it seemed almost as if the world were at rest, as if its storms had spent themselves. But now all seems changed. Every day brings new indications of disquietude and convulsion. Few nations seem willing to draw the sword, yet every nation has her hand upon the hilt; with some it is already gleaming in the air, and with others it is reddened with blood. Over the whole earth is heard “the long, low, distant murmur of dread sound.” And is this not the prelude to the LAST UNIVERSAL WAR? (Eze. 38; Zech. 14; Dan. 11:40–45; 12:1; Rev. 13:7; 16:12–16; 17:8–14; 19:11–14.) Is it not a sign of the near approach of Him who, when earth’s madness and ambition are at their height—when the summoned nations are gathered at Armageddon, girt for battle and slaughter—himself appears for their discomfiture and ruin? Then, but not till then, wars shall cease and the weapons of war perish. Then the true Solomon shall begin his reign, hushing the tumults of the nations and introducing the long-expected Sabbath of the weary, “work-day world.” (Rev. 19, 20.)

2. The restlessness of the world.—This sign is in part connected with the preceding, yet may be viewed separately. The state of the world is at present very ominous. “Distress of nations with perplexity—men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth,” and then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud” (Luke 21:25–27), is God’s picture of the state of men as the final crisis draws on. This certainly seems our attitude at this moment. The earth and the things that are coming on it, attract the attention of all serious thinkers. There is something in the state of the world so unsettled, so pregnant with uncertain evil, that every eye is moving to and fro in expectation of strange issues, and as if to catch the first sign of their approach. The form and color of the clouds forebode speedy change, and threaten tempest to the nations. The time for listlessness and apathy is gone. Some thirty years ago, when the skies were bright, and men could promise themselves days of sunshine, it was safe enough to fold the hands and take our ease. But all this is over. No doubt, after the excitement of recent wars and revolutions, men would prefer repose. But the onward swell of the waters stays not for an hour. There is among the nations a spirit of restlessness, anarchy, and insubordination; a passionate love of change, a headlong rush to overturn every established system, too furious and united to be ultimately withstood. Many call it but a passing tumult, the frenzy of an hour, but they who understand it know how deep is the spring out of which it flows. The storm, long gathering, but resisted and repressed by the barriers which ancient wisdom had erected for the stability of kingdoms, is concentrating and condensing its strength in these venerable recesses, which may for a while refuse to yield to the explosive force, but which, overstrained at length, give way to the accumulated pressure; then will the kingdoms of the earth be shivered; throne and temple overturned; wall and fortress laid in ruins—Signs of the Times.

(To be Continued)

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