The Medical Missionary, vol. 12

February 1903

“The Revelation of God” The Medical Missionary, 12, 2, pp. 29-31.

ATJ

ALONZO T. JONES

I

GOD in creation is God in revelation. This, for the simple reason that creation itself is the revelation of God. This is plain from the fact that Christ is the revelation of God, and he is the One by whom God created all things. He is the Word of God. Words express thoughts. Christ, being the Word of God, he is the expression of the thought of God. Any one desiring to know the thought of God on any subject, must look to Christ, for he is the expression of the thought of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” “By him were all things created, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers, all things were created by him and for him and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” MEDM February 1903, page 29.1

This is plain also from the further fact that “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.” MEDM February 1903, page 29.2

Creation being produced by his word, and words expressing thought, creation is the expression of the thought of God. God’s thought expressed in revelation. From this it is plain that the proper reading of creation, or nature, is the finding of the thought of God, which is expressed in each created thing. This was man’s reading of creation, or nature, when he stood in his native image and glory of God, in the unmarred world, in the midst of God’s creation. MEDM February 1903, page 29.3

To the man, the word of God came directly, and so was a direct revelation to him in that sense. To the man there came also the word of God through the creation that was round about him; and as he read it, he received the thought of God, and so received the revelation of God in that sense. MEDM February 1903, page 29.4

How certainly and how completely this is so, is illustrated in the record in Genesis 2. When God had finished the creation up to the making of man himself, he said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” The man himself had not yet discovered that he was alone; and in order that he might see that he was truly alone, and that there was no one fitted to him, that there was no companion for him, the Lord caused every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, to pass before the man, “to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” MEDM February 1903, page 29.5

Many people read this passage as if it said that God caused all these creatures to come to Adam, or pass before him, that he might give names to them; that is, that they had no names before, and as they passed by before him, he gives to each a name; and that has been its name ever since. For instance, here came an animal walking nobly up. As to name, it is nothing yet; but as Adam looks at it, he says, “I’ll name that a horse;” and a horse it has been ever since. Another comes lightly springing by. As to name, it is nothing; but Adam said, “I’ll call that a gazelle;” and a gazelle it has been. And so on, through the whole list of beasts and birds. But that is neither the word nor the thought of Scripture. MEDM February 1903, page 29.6

Was not each one of these animals the same precisely before Adam saw it as afterwards? Was not its nature, and were not its characteristics, identical before with what they were afterward? Assuredly. But the record is not that God brought these unto Adam to have him give names unto them, as though they had no names as yet. The record is, that God brought them unto Adam, “to see what he would call them.” It was a test of Adam’s unity and harmony with the creation which God had formed, and not a means of getting names for the animals. MEDM February 1903, page 30.1

And Adam’s unity with God and the creation which he had produced, was completely demonstrated. For as all the beasts and birds passed before him, at a look Adam read the thought of God expressed in each; at a look he caught the special characteristic that made each what it was; and without hesitation he spoke the word which described the essential nature and characteristics of each. And this he followed through the whole range of the animal creation; and in not a single instance did he miss. “For whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof;” that was exactly what it was. In the word which he spoke, that creature was defined. MEDM February 1903, page 30.2

This therefore demonstrates that the range of his knowledge was as wide as creation; that his mental vision was so clear that at a look he could read the nature of each creature; and his mind acted with such precision that he could, without hesitation, correctly read the essential nature of each creature as it came. This shows also that the mind of the man was so perfectly in harmony with the mind of God that in the created things he could catch the thought of God expressed in each. And this he did so completely that it is not too much to say that his mind itself was but the expression of the divine mind. MEDM February 1903, page 30.3

And so would it ever have been with man had he not sinned. Had he not sinned, man, as he might multiply to the filling of the world, would have ever been able correctly to read, and would ever have delighted himself in reading, the thoughts of God expressed in creation. And thus, whether in the word spoken directly to himself or in the word spoken through creation, he would ever have been receiving the revelation of the thought and character of God. MEDM February 1903, page 30.4

Man, as he was before sin entered, standing in unity with God, and with the creation of which he was a part, receiving the thought of God, in his word expressed, whether directly or through creation to him, saw things as they really were. He saw them in their true light. He saw them as they were in the thought and according to the mind of God. And thus would it have ever been had he remained in unity with God. And submission to the word of God as spoken directly to himself was the means of his remaining in unity with God. MEDM February 1903, page 30.5

One word of God spoken to him directly, was, “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.” Submission to this word was the means, and the only means, of man’s remaining in the place, condition, and character in which God intended that he should abide. MEDM February 1903, page 30.6

But there came another word, the opposite of this word of God, first insinuating deception. This word said: “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” The suggestion was believed. This word was accepted, and, as the consequence, “The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise;” and “she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” MEDM February 1903, page 30.7

Now that tree was not good for food. It was not a tree to be desired to make one wise, yet “the woman saw” that it was. That is to say, she saw what was not so. MEDM February 1903, page 31.1

When the holy pair in Eden received the word of God, they received the thought of God, and in that they received the mind of God, which produced the thought expressed in his word. On the other hand, when they received the word of Satan, they received the thought of Satan, and in that they received the mind which produced the thought that was expressed in that word. Thus they received another mind altogether from that which was their own native mind, from that which was the mind of Christ, who was the Word, the expression of the thought of God. And this other mind caused them to see the creation of God in exactly the reverse order; caused them to see as good that which was not in any sense good; and to see as that which was desired to make one wise, what was not, in any possible sense, the truth of the case. And this is how it is that “the carnal mind the [mind of the flesh] is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither can be.” MEDM February 1903, page 31.2

And this difficulty of the mind of man now seeing things as they are not, was not limited to the seeing of that one tree; it extended to the erring of all creation; for it was thus that it came about that darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. But note: the change by which man came to see the things of creation in reverse order, came to see things as they are not—this change was not at all in the creation, but solely in the mind of man. And so long as man remains in that mind and in that darkness, he never can see creation as it truly is. MEDM February 1903, page 31.3

But God did not leave the man in that darkness, and possessed of that mind, without hope. Into that darkness he caused the light to shine. He said, even that very day, to the deceiver who had drawn man to his mind and into the darkness, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and here seed.” That promised seed is Christ, the desire of all nations. And there, through him, there was opened to man the way back from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, and from the mind of Satan unto the true mind of man, the mind of Christ. MEDM February 1903, page 31.4

And from that day to this the word to man has ever been, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” This is otherwise expressed in another word, which from that day to this has ever been rung out from God to man,—“Repent;” that is, change your mind. MEDM February 1903, page 31.5

Christ is the gift of God to man, to lead him out of the darkness into the light; from the mind of Satan to the mind of God. He is the Way, and the only way, out of the darkness and into the light, from the power and mind of Satan to the power and mind of God. MEDM February 1903, page 31.6

(To be continued)