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Chapter 2
The Creation
[This chapter is based on Genesis 1 and 2.]
"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." Psalm 33:6,9. He "laid the foundations of the earth,
that it should not be removed forever." Psalm 104:5.
As the earth came forth from the hand of its Maker, it was exceedingly
beautiful. Its surface was diversified with mountains, hills, and
plains, interspersed with noble rivers and lovely lakes; but the hills
and mountains were not abrupt and rugged, abounding in terrific steeps
and frightful chasms, as they now do; the sharp, ragged edges of earth's
rocky framework were buried beneath the fruitful soil, which everywhere
produced a luxuriant growth of verdure. There were no loathsome swamps
or barren deserts. Graceful shrubs and delicate flowers greeted the eye
at every turn. The heights were crowned with trees more majestic than
any that now exist. The air, untainted by foul miasma, was clear and
healthful. The entire landscape outvied in beauty the decorated grounds
of the proudest palace. The angelic host viewed the scene with delight,
and rejoiced at the wonderful works of God.
After the earth with its teeming animal and vegetable life had been
called into existence, man, the crowning work of the Creator, and the
one for whom the beautiful earth had been fitted up, was brought upon
the stage of action. To him was given dominion over all that his eye
could behold; for "God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our
likeness: and let them have dominion over . . . all the earth. . . . So
God created man in His own image; . . . male and female created He
them." Here is clearly set forth the origin of the human race; and the
divine record is so plainly stated that there is no occasion for
erroneous conclusions. God created man in His own image. Here is no
mystery. There is no ground for the supposition that man was evolved by
slow degrees of development from the lower forms of animal or vegetable
life. Such teaching lowers the great work of the Creator to the level of
man's narrow, earthly conceptions. Men are so intent upon excluding God
from the sovereignty of the universe that they degrade man and defraud
him of the dignity of his origin. He who set the starry worlds on high
and tinted with delicate skill the flowers of the field, who filled the
earth and the heavens with the wonders of His power, when He came to
crown His glorious work, to place one in the midst to stand as ruler of
the fair earth, did not fail to create a being worthy of the hand that
gave him life. The genealogy of our race, as given by inspiration,
traces back its origin, not to a line of developing germs, mollusks, and
quadrupeds, but to the great Creator. Though formed from the dust, Adam
was "the son of God."
He was placed, as God's representative, over the lower orders of being.
They cannot understand or acknowledge the sovereignty of God, yet they
were made capable of loving and serving man. The psalmist says, "Thou
madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put
all things under his feet: . . . the beasts of the field; the fowl of
the air, . . . and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas."
Psalm 8:6-8.
Man was to bear God's image, both in outward resemblance and in
character. Christ alone is "the express image" (Hebrews 1:3) of the
Father; but man was formed in the likeness of God. His nature was in
harmony with the will of God. His mind was capable of comprehending
divine things. 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.
As man came forth from the hand of his Creator, he was of lofty stature
and perfect symmetry. His countenance bore the ruddy tint of health and
glowed with the light of life and joy. Adam's height was much greater
than that of men who now inhabit the earth. Eve was somewhat less in
stature; yet her form was noble, and full of beauty. The sinless pair
wore no artificial garments; they were clothed with a covering of light
and glory, such as the angels wear. So long as they lived in obedience
to God, this robe of light continued to enshroud them.
After the creation of Adam every living creature was brought before him
to receive its name; he saw that to each had been given a companion, but
among them "there was not found an help meet for him." Among all the
creatures that God had made on the earth, there was not one equal to
man. And God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will
make him an help meet for him." Man was not made to dwell in solitude;
he was to be a social being. Without companionship the beautiful scenes
and delightful employments of Eden would have failed to yield perfect
happiness. Even communion with angels could not have satisfied his
desire for sympathy and companionship. There was none of the same nature
to love and to be loved.
God Himself gave Adam a companion. He provided "an help meet for him"--a
helper corresponding to him-one who was fitted to be his companion, and
who could be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a
rib taken from the side of Adam, signifying that she was not to control
him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but
to stand by his side as an equal, to be loved and protected by him. A
part of man, bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, she was his
second self, showing the close union and the affectionate attachment
that should exist in this relation. "For no man ever yet hated his own
flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it." Ephesians 5:29. "Therefore
shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his
wife; and they shall be one."
God celebrated the first marriage. Thus the institution has for its
originator the Creator of the universe. "Marriage is honorable" (Hebrews
13:4); it was one of the first gifts of God to man, and it is one of the
two institutions that, after the Fall, Adam brought with him beyond the
gates of Paradise. When the divine principles are recognized and obeyed
in this relation, marriage is a blessing; it guards the purity and
happiness of the race, it provides for man's social needs, it elevates
the physical, the intellectual, and the moral nature.
"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put
the man whom He had formed." Everything that God had made was the
perfection of beauty, and nothing seemed wanting that could contribute
to the happiness of the holy pair; yet the Creator gave them still
another token of His love, by preparing a garden especially for their
home. In this garden were trees of every variety, many of them laden
with fragrant and delicious fruit. There were lovely vines, growing
upright, yet presenting a most graceful appearance, with their branches
drooping under their load of tempting fruit of the richest and most
varied hues. It was the work of Adam and Eve to train the branches of
the vine to form bowers, thus making for themselves a dwelling from
living trees covered with foliage and fruit. There were fragrant flowers
of every hue in rich profusion. In the midst of the garden stood the
tree of life, surpassing in glory all other trees. Its fruit appeared
like apples of gold and silver, and had the power to perpetuate life.
The creation was now complete. "The heavens and the earth were finished,
and all the host of them." "And God saw everything that He had made,
and, behold, it was very good." Eden bloomed on earth. Adam and Eve had
free access to the tree of life. No taint of sin or shadow of death
marred the fair creation. "The morning stars sang together, and all the
sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7.
The great Jehovah had laid the foundations of the earth; He had dressed
the whole world in the garb of beauty and had filled it with things
useful to man; He had created all the wonders of the land and of the
sea. In six days the great work of creation had been accomplished. And
God "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." God looked
with satisfaction upon the work of His hands. All was perfect, worthy of
its divine Author, and He rested, not as one weary, but as well pleased
with the fruits of His wisdom and goodness and the manifestations of His
glory.
After resting upon the seventh day, God sanctified it, or set it apart,
as a day of rest for man. Following the example of the Creator, man was
to rest upon this sacred day, that as he should look upon the heavens
and the earth, he might reflect upon God's great work of creation; and
that as he should behold the evidences of God's wisdom and goodness, his
heart might be filled with love and reverence for his Maker.
In Eden, God set up the memorial of His work of creation, in placing His
blessing upon the seventh day. The Sabbath was committed to Adam, the
father and representative of the whole human family. Its observance was
to be an act of grateful acknowledgment, on the part of all who should
dwell upon the earth, that God was their Creator and their rightful
Sovereign; that they were the work of His hands and the subjects of His
authority. Thus the institution was wholly commemorative, and given to
all mankind. There was nothing in it shadowy or of restricted
application to any people.
God saw that a Sabbath was essential for man, even in Paradise. He
needed to lay aside his own interests and pursuits for one day of the
seven, that he might more fully contemplate the works of God and
meditate upon His power and goodness. He needed a Sabbath to remind him
more vividly of God and to awaken gratitude because all that he enjoyed
and possessed came from the beneficent hand of the Creator.
God designs that the Sabbath shall direct the minds of men to the
contemplation of His created works. Nature speaks to their senses,
declaring that there is a living God, the Creator, the Supreme Ruler of
all. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth
His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night
showeth knowledge." Psalm 19:1, 2. The beauty that clothes the earth is
token of God's love. We may behold it in the everlasting hills, in the
lofty trees, in the opening buds and the delicate flowers. All speak to
us of God. The Sabbath, ever pointing to Him who made them all, bids men
open the great book of nature and trace therein the wisdom, the power,
and the love of the Creator.
Our first parents, though created innocent and holy, were not placed
beyond the possibility of wrongdoing. God made them free moral agents,
capable of appreciating the wisdom and benevolence of His character and
the justice of His requirements, and with full liberty to yield or to
withhold obedience. They were to enjoy communion with God and with holy
angels; but before they could be rendered eternally secure, their
loyalty must be tested. At the very beginning of man's existence a check
was placed upon the desire for self-indulgence, the fatal passion that
lay at the foundation of Satan's fall. The tree of knowledge, which
stood near the tree of life in the midst of the garden, was to be a test
of the obedience, faith, and love of our parents. While permitted to eat
freely of every other tree, they were forbidden to taste of this, on
pain of death. They were also to be exposed to the temptations of Satan;
but if they endured the trial, they would finally be placed beyond his
power, to enjoy perpetual favor with God.
God placed man under law, as an indispensable condition of his very
existence. He was a subject of the divine government, and there can be
no government without law. God might have created man without the power
to transgress His law; He might have withheld the hand of Adam from
touching the forbidden fruit; but in that case man would have been, not
a free moral agent, but a mere automaton. Without freedom of choice, his
obedience would not have been voluntary, but forced. There could have
been no development of character. Such a course would have been contrary
to God's plan in dealing with the inhabitants of other worlds. It would
have been unworthy of man as an intelligent being, and would have
sustained Satan's charge of God's arbitrary rule.
God made upright; He gave him noble traits of character, with no bias
toward evil. He endowed him with high intellectual powers, and presented
before him the strongest possible inducements to be true to his
allegiance. Obedience, perfect and perpetual, was the condition of
eternal happiness. On this condition he was to have access to the tree
of life.
The home of our first parents was to be a pattern for other homes as
their children should go forth to occupy the earth. That home,
beautified by the hand of God Himself, was not a gorgeous palace. Men,
in their pride, delight in magnificent and costly edifices and glory in
the works of their own hands; but God placed Adam in a garden. This was
his dwelling. The blue heavens were its dome; the earth, with its
delicate flowers and carpet of living green, was its floor; and the
leafy branches of the goodly trees were its canopy. Its was walls were
hung with the most magnificent adornings--the handiwork of the great
Master Artist. In the surroundings of the holy pair was a lesson for all
time--that true happiness is found, not in the indulgence of pride and
luxury, but in communion with God through His created works. If men
would give less attention to the artificial, and would cultivate greater
simplicity, they would come far nearer to answering the purpose of God
in their creation. Pride and ambition are never satisfied, but those who
are truly wise will find substantial and elevating pleasure in the
sources of enjoyment that God has placed within the reach of all.
To the dwellers in Eden was committed the care of the garden, "to dress
it and to keep it." Their occupation was not wearisome, but pleasant and
invigorating. God appointed labor as a blessing to man, to occupy his
mind, to strengthen his body, and to develop his faculties. In mental
and physical activity Adam found one of the highest pleasures of his
holy existence. And when, as a result of his disobedience, he was driven
from his beautiful home, and forced to struggle with a stubborn soil to
gain his daily bread, that very labor, although widely different from
his pleasant occupation in the garden, was a safeguard against
temptation and a source of happiness. Those who regard work as a curse,
attended though it be with weariness and pain, are cherishing an error.
The rich often look down with contempt upon the working classes, but
this is wholly at variance with God's purpose in creating man. What are
the possessions of even the most wealthy in comparison with the heritage
given to the lordly Adam? Yet Adam was not to be idle. Our Creator, who
understands what is for man's happiness, appointed Adam his work. The
true joy of life is found only by the working men and women. The angels
are diligent workers; they are the ministers of God to the children of
men. The Creator has prepared no place for the stagnating practice of
indolence.
While they remained true to God, Adam and his companion were to bear
rule over the earth. Unlimited control was given them over every living
thing. The lion and the lamb sported peacefully around them or lay down
together at their feet. The happy birds flitted about them without fear;
and as their glad songs ascended to the praise of their Creator, Adam
and Eve united with them in thanksgiving to the Father and the Son.
The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God but
students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. They were
visited by angels, and were granted communion with their Maker, with no
obscuring veil between. They were full of the vigor imparted by the tree
of life, and their intellectual power was but little less than that of
the angels. The mysteries of the visible universe--"the wondrous works
of Him which is perfect in knowledge" (Job 37:16)--afforded them an
exhaustless source of instruction and delight. The laws and operations
of nature, which have engaged men's study for six thousand years, were
opened to their minds by the infinite Framer and Upholder of all. They
held converse with leaf and flower and tree, gathering from each the
secrets of its life. With every living creature, from the mighty
leviathan that playeth among the waters to the insect mote that floats
in the sunbeam, Adam was familiar. He had given to each its name, and he
was acquainted with the nature and habits of all. God's glory in the
heavens, the innumerable worlds in their orderly revolutions, "the
balancings of the clouds," the mysteries of light and sound, of day and
night--all were open to the study of our first parents. On every leaf of
the forest or stone of the mountains, in every shining star, in earth
and air and sky, God's name was written. The order and harmony of
creation spoke to them of infinite wisdom and power. They were ever
discovering some attraction that filled their hearts with deeper love
and called forth fresh expressions of gratitude.
So long as they remained loyal to the divine law, their capacity to
know, to enjoy, and to love would continually increase. They would be
constantly gaining new treasures of knowledge, discovering fresh springs
of happiness, and obtaining clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the
immeasurable, unfailing love of God.
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