ste Sete, eta dares eadeaes oT Whar (UCeI SB oak Wee a .. Lyk Vibe hy pV: ART hey et 4 ' ; wn as ot FY cy me t, hie i i ey ‘ip nares? ay pays mi ; bit GENESIS A Study of The PLAN OF REDEMPTION BY | V JOSIAH BLAKE TIDWELL AUTHOR OF “THE BIBLE BOOK BY BOOK”’ “THE BIBLE PERIOD BY PERIOD” “THE GOSPELS AND THE LIFE OF CHRIST"’ “THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER MAGNIFIED” BAYLOR UNIVERSITY PRESS WACO, TEXAS BOOKS BY DR. TIDWELL THE BIBLE BOOK BY BOOK Net $1.50 CHE BIBLE “PERIOD BY. e BRIG Net $1.50 THE GOSPELS AND THE LIFE OF CHRIST Net 1.50 THE LP OUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER MAGNIFIED Net $1.00 GENESIS— A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION Net $1.50 GENESIS A Study of the Plan of Redemption J. B. TIDWELL. D. D. Copyright 1924 By Baylor University Press Waco, Texas AUTHOR’S PREFACE OR several years the author has offered a course in college, covering the whole Pentateuch in which he has attempted a new study of this section of the Word of God along the lines given in these discussions. The course has proven one of the most popular of all those offered for Junior and Senior students. Frequent suggestions have been made by the most thoughtful members of the classes that these studies should be published and made available for a larger group of Bible students. In Bible institutes held under the auspices of both churches and colleges many addresses have been delivered on subjects involved in these discussions. Always the hearers of these lectures have manifested a keen interest in them and not infrequent requests have come for their publication. All of this has encouraged the author to hope that this little volume would prove helpful. The material presented is based on only one of the five books studied in the college course. But it is based upon the book about which there is the greatest interest in our day and it probably contains enough to test the value of the whole as material for the general public. An effort has been made to remove from it all of the at- mosphere and phrasing that belong to the classroom or the lecture platform and to put it in a form that will prove most helpful to the largest number of readers. The book is arranged in such chapters, and with such introductory ques- tions inserted, as to make it suitable for the use of classes either in the schools or churches. In such classes the closest study of the Bible would also be necessary. On the other hand it may be read straight through by the general reader and allowed to make its own impression. The book is sent forth in the hope that it may contribute something to the sum total of Biblical knowledge and with a prayer that it may provoke interest in Bible study and especially in the plan of redemption which it reveals. Waco, Texas. CONTENTS GHAPIE RT ELON DRODUGCGEION Gir te. coe ws lpie secant 1. Structure of Genesis. 2. Purpose of Genesis. 3. The Interest in Salvation. 4. A Bible of the Cross. 5. Basis and Purpose of these Discussions. 6. Defense of the Method. CA Ar hdd) Lo ee OREALLON. Sd ORV thi Wane eee 7. An Impressive Story. 8. Those Who Study the Story. 9. All the Work of God. 10. The Six Days and the Work of Redemption. 11. The Term Create. 12. The Name of God. 13. Deity’s Approach to Man. 14. Resume. CHAP Ere ROLL LF Eee. V be Nae ACY VVC) iy Mal errs ee 15. Introductory. 16. Light as a Symbol of Jesus. 17. The Sun as a Symbol. 18. The Moon as a Symbol. 19. Hus- band and Wife. 20. Adam, the Head of the Race. 21. Eve, Adam’s Wife. 22. Eve’s Creation, the First Shadow- ing of the Cross. 23. Adam and Eve of Common Task and Destiny. 24. The Sabbath. 25. Man’s First Home. GHAPTER’IVeTHE(STORY(ORS DHE RAL Lie oon 26. The Story. 27. The Temptation and Fall. 28. The Effects of the Fall. 29. Man’s Utter Helplessness. 30. What Man Did Not Know of God. 31. What God Re- vealed of Himself. 32. Promise of the Redeemer. 33. Their Covering of Skins. 34. The Altar of Justice and Mercy. 35. Some Names of God. CHAPTER V:: THE:STORY, OF ‘GAIN AND ABEE 36. First Sons of Adam and Eve. 37. Two Lives Con- trasted. 38. The Story Related to Jesus. 39. Nature and Environment the Same. 40. Both Were Religious. 41. Sacrifices Differed. 42. Cain’s Offering. 43. Abel’s Offer- ing. 44. Abel’s Faith Sees Jesus. 45. Offering and Offer- er One Before God. 46. Cain’s Anger and Rejection. 47. Cain Persecutes Abel. 48. Cain and This Present World. 49. The Resurrected Life. 50. Two Types. 51 Resume. 19-25 26-50 51-69 70-83 CONTENTS fs ISR EV.) Lilt LORY COL PE Bt mLOOD ct 84-101 52. The Two Races. 53. A Sad Mistake. 54. Jesus and the Jordan. 55. The World Before the Flood. 56. The Wood of the Ark. 57. The Pitch. 58. Entrance Into the Ark. 59. The Flood and the Resurrection. 60. The Flood as a Whole. 61. Noah and His Work. 62. Noah as a Man. 63. Noah as a Type. 64. Noah’s Family Saved. 65. The Ark. 66. The Ark and Christ’s Saving Work. 67. Safety in the Ark and in Christ. 68. Entrance Into the Ark and Into Christ, Voluntary. 69. God in Charge After We Enter Christ. 70. Safe Before Judgment Be- gan. 71. Saved by Faith. 72. The World Situation. 73. Saved Worshipers and the Rainbow Covenant. 74. The Rainbow. 75. The Rainbow and Jesus on the Cross. 76. Noah After the Flood. 77. Noah’s Naked- ness Covered. Sti ha yt Lb eL Pants POR Ye CYR ABRAHAM! vee. . 102-11. 78. Material Civilization. 79. Moral and Religious Con- ditions. 80. Abraham’s Call. 81. Began in Faith. 282. Lived by Faith. 83. His Attitude Toward God. 84. His Sacrifices. 85. Relation to Others. 86. His Rescue of Lot. 87. Redeemer and Intercessor. 88. Abraham Repre- sents the Father. 89. Sacrifices of Chapter Fifteen. 90. Ishmael and Isaac and Their Mothers. 91. The Sacrifice of Isaac. 92. Isaac Secures a Wife. 93. Abraham’s Sec- ond Marriage. Sra Uy Pee PH EY SLORY, OF ISAAC soe... 116-129 94. His Birth. 95. His Sacrifice. 96. A Type of Jesus. 97. A Type of the Believer. 98. Abraham Secures Isaac a Wife. 99. Rebekah’s Faith. 100. Means of Getting Her to Isaac’s Home. 101. Wisdom of Her Acceptance. 102. Her Reception by Isaac. 103. Another Thing is Import- tant. 104. A Blessing to Isaac. 105. All for Isaac. 106. In the Land of the Philistines.. 107. Abraham’s Similar Conduct. 108. Lessons of Value. 109. A Warning. 8 CONTENTS CHARTER XS THEO SLORY ORR AC ORGS. .am apne 130-138 110. His Nature and Discipline. 111. Three Divisions of His Life. 112. The First-born Rejected. 113. Because Blessed of God. 114. Illustrates Jesus Jews. 115. Secured His Family While Away. perience at Bethel. 117. Disclosure of Grace. Rejected and the 116. Ex- 118. He Plans to Meet Esau. 119. A Man Wrestles With Him. 120. The Broken Thigh and Jacob’s Prayer. 121. Aiways a Worshiper. 122. Significance of the Change of His Name. CHAPTER X. THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH eects 139-157 123. The Story Familiar. 124. Principal Events of His Life. 125. Important Elements of the Narrative. 126. The Story Typical. 127. The Strictly Typical Element. 128. Hated For His Dreams. 129, Faithful in All Things. 130. Receives His Brethren. 131. Stephen Applies the Story. 132. Hope For Sinners. 133. Repentance Re- quired. 134. Secures His Family. 135. His Family Es- caped His Humiliation and Shared His Glory. 136. The Christian’s Comfort. 137. According to Divine Plan. 138, Preparation Complete Before Needed. 139. Prepara- tion Sufficient for All. 140. Men First Used All They Had. 141. Surrender All They Have to Joseph and the King. 142. He Wanted Them There. 143. Jesus Wants Us With Him. 144. Safe During the Life of Joseph and the Pharaohs Who Knew Him. 145. An Ambitious Youth. 146. A Trustworthy Youth and Man. 147. Worthy Prin- ciples of Life. 148. How Sinners Come to Jesus and are Comforted and Saved. 149. Resume. CHAPTER XI. SEVEN PRINCIPAL MEN OF GENESIS, 158-164 150. A Study of Sevens. 151. Other Types. 152. The Seven as General Types. 153. Two Groups—Three and Four. 154. The Order of These Four. 155. Order in the Use of All Biblical Types. CHAPTER I Introduction 1. Structure of Genesis. The form and structure of Gen- esis can not be separated from the atmosphere in which its nar- ratives are set. Looked at from one standpoint it falls into ten divisions, each beginning with a “generations” heading. From this view it is so formed as to emphasize the religious and irrelig- ious groups and to show the importance and connections of each. If it is divided into two divisions as already suggested—one, chapters 1-11, or the period before Abraham, the other, chapters 12-50, or the period after Abraham—we shall find that each sec- tion contains five of the ten primitive “generation”? chapters. This may suggest that they early began the use of decimals as an aid to memory, the five fingers of the hand for one great division and the other five for the other division. Another view of the structure recognizes the national atmos- phere which each section manifests. This method emphasizes the so called photographic character of the book and by the use of three divisions shows how accurately it has caught the life and spirit of the ages through which it passed and how it has brought them forward to us. In the first section (chapters 1-11), the records concerning creation, temptation, the flood, and the confusion of tongues, are in considerable degree paralleled in Babylonian literature. The whole life of the race, especially as it is described after the de- luge, seems to center in Babylonia and every incident seems to be surrounded by a Babylonian atmosphere. The section ends with Abraham, the great hero of the book, coming out of Ur of the Chaldees. This does not mean that these stories were copied from Babylonian origin, for Professor Clay has proved to us that the Biblical story of the deluge is older than the Babylonian story. It does, however, show how completely Babylonian idolatry had gripped the whole world and how God had to call out of it one through whom He could preserve and propagate true religion. 10 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION The second section (chapters 12-38), is filled with the spirit of the Amorite or Canaanite. Abraham has moved out of Baby- lonia into Palestine. He has gone into the very heart of the country. As we read the story we are in a different world. Every scene and city and all the customs described are clearly Palestinian. There is no mistaking the atmosphere, it is no longer Babylon- ian. The Palestinians, who lived in a hot climate and had no means of preserving the bodies of their dead, always buried them out of their sight on the same day of their death. Abraham likewise made a quick bargain with the sons of Heth for the cave of Machpelah “That I may put my dead out of sight.” This is but one of many illustrations showing the Canaanite influence seen in this section. In the third section (chapters 39-50) we are removed from either Babylonia or Canaan and are surrounded by an Egyptian atmosphere. We follow Joseph into Egypt and thereafter every- thing we see is Egyptian. ‘Today we know from her own rec- ords very much of the customs and interests of Ancient Egypt and every part of what we find recorded is true to those customs and interests. We have references to their slaves, to their ag- riculture, to their economic system, to their social. customs, to royalty, to their interest in dreams, to their priests, and many other things and in regard to all of these there is perfect accuracy in the Genesis portrayal. From these illustrations and suggestions we see that we have in Genesis an ancient history (in so far as it is history) that not only tells its story with perfect accuracy, but exhales and dif- fuses upon us the very atmosphere of all’ the civilizations and ages through which it has moved. It is, therefore, not just a record of facts, but a portrayal of life. 2. Purpose of Genesis. ‘The book of Genesis has a sig- nificance and an importance all its own. Among all the books of the world it holds a unique place. Its very title attracts attention and creates interest. Its first section surveys the for- tune of the whole human race, but from the start puts primary emphasis upon one particular section of the race, the descendants INTRODUCTION 11 of Seth. In the later sections the writer follows the story of one family, that of Abraham and his descendants, Isaac and Jacob. Only so much consideration is given to the other branches of the human race as is necessary in properly portraying the chosen fam- ily. Once more it is noticeable that in each section there is first a brief reference to the collateral branches of the race and they are then dismissed so that there may, thereafter, be an uninter- rupted flow of the story of the holy seed. In this way the mind of the reader is kept constantly upon the special people. Cain is noticed before Seth and dropped so that Seth and his descend- ants may be seen the more clearly. The genealogies of Japheth and Ham are given before that of Shem out of whom Abraham, in whom interest is to center, was to be born. The biographies of Ishmael and Esau come before those of Isaac and Jacob which are carried forward to the end of the book. The general plan seen everywhere in the book leads clearly to the conclusion that Genesis is an introduction to the study of the Kingdom of God. It was intended to show the necessity and nature of the new economy about to be established. It shows how the institutions of salvation had been made necessary through the fall and corruption of the race which was punished in the flood and seen again in the story of the tower of Babel. It shows how God makes in Abraham a new venture in His efforts at redemption, but also that he does it along the same lines He has pursued from the beginning. It aims to explain man’s lapse into sin which rendered salvation necessary and to portray the first movements of the divine grace which from that time forward has been working for man’s restoration. Genesis has no delusions about the reality of sin and the danger of the sinner. It recognizes that sin is the most important issue in the life of every man every day of his life. It sees in the question of the origin of sin a problem of universal interests and undertakes to answer this hardest question of philosophy and re- ligion. It makes it clear that evil did not begin as a mere physical or material thing. It was not a matter of evolution of con- sciousness—not just a higher and expanding degree of a lower and duller physical sensibility. Genesis contains no silly nonsense 12 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION about sin as a falling upward toward God through the evolution of conscience. It shows how it could not have been a material matter, for in creation God made every physical thing “good.” But sin is represented truly as beginning in unbelief, in distrust- ing and doubting the word and goodness of God. It began in disobedience against the divine command. It was the assertion of the will of man against the will of God. It was the alienation of man from God by his act of self-will. By selfish unbelief sin had entered the heart that God had created in purity and had intended to live in happy fellowship with Himself. In this con- nection the book also shows that by loving belief in the Lord sin may be overcome and cast out of the heart and our redemption made sure. It shows how God is trying to bring about that belief. In pursuance of these purposes a religious interest is made to dominate the whole book as, indeed, it does the whole Bible. Even in the brief story of the creation and original state of man there are found all of those fundamental principles of religion and morality which are recognized by the universal conscience of mankind. It tries in it all to fix our thoughts on a glorious world and a living Omnipotence. Adam and Eve and their fall point to the fact of the fall and sin of every man and woman. We are shown in all of it the causes of the loss of innocence, the certain consequences of retribution and above all the divine remedy for sin. In the promise that the seed of the woman should crush the serpent’s head we hear the first word of prophecy and catch the first gleam of promised redemption and of the light and hope which was finally to brighten into the perfect day of salvation. Here are all the great elemental principles which we find running through the whole Bible. Here is “law and proph- ecy; the denunciation of sin and the promise of pardon; the flame which consumes and the light which comforts.” In the story of Cain and Abel and Seth and in the story of the flood the same truths are strikingly symbolized. The saving ark, the dove with the olive branch, the promise that God will no more smite with a flood every living thing, the bow in the cloud as a pledge of mercy and safety—all these stand over and above God’s wrath against corruption and sin. When Abraham is chosen, the pur- INTRODUCTION 13° pose was declared to be that he should be a blessing to all the. nations of the earth. From all of this it is clear that Genesis is not intended as a book of universal history. By a special revelation which partakes very largely of the nature of an apocalypse, God has given us in the early chapters some highly helpful information concerning the early beginning of things. In the other chapters He has given us the record of some of the principal men and doings of the time of the beginnings of His special revelations of grace. But it is evident that only those facts and experiences are recorded that are necessary to show how, after the fall, God began to make known to man his plan of redemption. All men and incidents are excluded from the narrative except those that had some bearing upon that subject. This also makes it clear that Genesis is not a book of science. It makes no attempt to explain the processes in nature. It does not furnish a basis for the study of the science of geology, zoology, biology, botany, astronomy, archaeology, or anthropol- ogy, all of which are suggested in the first two chapters. No amount of study of it would give us an understanding of electricity or steam which are inherent in the universe whose creation is declared. It does not answer the questions of science, but re- sponds to the longings of the soul. Science and Genesis and in- deed all the Bible have to do with the facts of two realms— the physical and spiritual. One deals with physical facts and the other with religious faith. One deals with what may be known by sight, the other looks to what we may learn by faith. One studies “the dust of the ground” out of which God created man; the other studies the “living soul’? which he became after God breathed into him the breath of life. Genesis sets down over all things and as an explanation of all things the simple phrase, “In the beginning God.” It is content to declare that God is the Cause and Creator of all things. Then leaving science free to study their nature and processes, it is constantly trying to show forth the plan of salvation and the method of its working. In these conclusions lies the starting point for any proper study of Genesis. We must not put our main emphasis upon the history 14 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION and biography, nor upon the facts of science which it suggests. All the facts recorded must be thoroughly learned, but in the study of these facts we must put our emphasis upon their re- ligious significance. In earth and sky, in land and sea, in animal and man, and in all their relations with each other and with God, we must look for a profound religious purpose. Any proper study of the book will, therefore, be to learn something of the true religion manifested in the divine work of salvation. Just this will be the object. 3. The Interest in Salvation. Salvation is a subject of abiding interest. Every generation gives earnest consideration to it. All of its great words and doctrines of hope have been carefully studied and ably discussed by the multitude of thought- ful students and writers. They have analyzed and explained all the direct teachings.of Jesus and of Paul and of other New Testament writers. They collated Old Testament promises and prophecies and have given exhaustive consideration to the types and foreshadowings of Jewish history—all of these in an attempt to fathom the blessed depths of mercy and the marvel of our salva- tion in Christ. One wonders whether the subject can be ap- proached from any new angle. Notwithstanding all this, the plan of redemption as wrought out by Jesus has lost none of its interest for the hearts of sinful men. For so long as the essential nature of human life in this world remains unchanged; so long as men are sinful; so long as they are conscious of their need of a Savior who can deliver them from the consequences of sin; so long as they continue to die; so long as they continue to yearn for light from beyond the grave; so long will there be the same eager interest in the great subject of salvation. The search for more and new light con- cerning our eternal hope in Christ will continue unabated, there- fore, until the end of time. Indeed, salvation always has been, is now and always will he the most vital and the most interesting of all the subjects of human thought. In fact, if one may speak of God in human terms, it is the matter of deepest concern to Him. He built INTRODUCTION 15 the world with a redemptive purpose and the chiefest of all His glory will be the work He has done through Christ in saving fallen men. To this end He has created the world—that it might become a platform upon which He could act to display His grace, that He might show forth His glory in Christ (Eph. 2:7). His love could not rest without some way of expressing itself. Every- thing, therefore, whether in time or in eternity, tended to this end. But his love was sacrificial and propitiatory and could not ade- quately express itself except through sacrifice and suffering. The world was, therefore, built around the cross and all human history was made to center in Christ, whose purpose in coming in the flesh and whose consummate act was to die in Golgotha. From the beginning of time everything looked toward Calvary, and now that Jesus had died for the sins of men, everything points back to the time and place of His death. So important is this that every time we address a letter or fix a historical date, we pay tribute to Jesus by reckoning the incident before or after Christ. Truly the cross on which Jesus died for our sins is the center of God’s universe, the topmost experience of all human history and the consummate act of Deity in the work of redemption. But as certainly as all secular history faces toward the death which Jesus suffered for sinful men, so certainly does all sacred history, found in the Bible, center in the same glorious act. It shows us how all eternity is ruled by the cross. Jesus stood as a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. His death was uppermost in all the divine planning. In the far flung future, eternity, the redeemed will look back to His death and sing, “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever!” (Rev. 1:5-6). Thus the Bible makes eternity both before and after the time of Christ concerned especially in His cross and its meaning to men. 16 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION 4. A Bible of the Cross. Its central theme is Christ cru- cified. This crimson thread stretches through the Old Testa- ment and colors all the warp and woof of the New Testament. The cross, the blood, the death, the propitiation, the sacrifice, the crucifixion upon these, the Word of God puts the tremendous emphasis. Every page lifts up the cross—every page is splashed with the blood. All of the four great facts of the gospel—the Incarnation, the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Interces- sion of Jesus, center in an uplifted cross. The Incarnation was to the end that He might die; the Resurrection looks back to the cross and could have no meaning without His death; the Ascen- sion casts a new glory in the crucifixion and illuminates and em- phasizes the cross (Heb. 10:12); the Intercession rests upon the Crucifixion as a basis for the plea of the Intercessor. The cross with a meaning and message that is as high as Heaven, as deep as hell and as wide as the universe is the radiant center of all. The Bible, therefore, which tells us of salvation is filled with illustrations, physical, animal and human, by which we are impressed with our need of redemption and of the fact that such redemption has been provided. There is promise and prophecy of a coming Redeemer. There is sacrifice and ceremony to remind us of the nature and efficacy of the atonement which He has provided. Every chapter and verse, every story, whether personal or national, and every teaching whether in song or pro- verb or prophecy, somehow points to the salvation accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus. 5. Basis and Purpose of these Discussions. In connec- tion with what has been said above as to the purpose of the book and of any proper study of it, it scarcely needs to be said that the object of these studies is to find out its suggestions concerning the plan of redemption. Certainly it records the origin of man, the beginning of civilization and the entrance of sin into the world. Let us try to discover what message it has about salvation from the sin. It is a sort of introduction to the whole Bible. What then does it reveal as to the purpose of the whole which is to re- veal to us a knowledge of God’s way of salvation and of His glo- rious Christ. Just this is the purpose of these studies. They lay INTRODUCTION 17 no claim to anything new or extraordinary, but they are written in the hope that they may stimulate thought and that they may be a comfort to some hearts. It should be said also that there is no claim that all the in- cidents used are direct types of Jesus and His work as recorded in the New Testament. Many of them are given to show some- thing of how rich the Bible is in illustrations of the great teach- ings concerning redemption. It is hoped that it will suggest to the reader how, along wih the real promises and prophecies and teachings, the Bible is full of stories that enforce and illustrate the truth it reveals. Everywhere in it there is acted as well as spoken parable, and the man who has learned to see these par- ables of life and action, has discovered a source of incalculable blessing and strength. The effort has also been made to restrain the working of imagination so that no teachings of redemption shall be based upon these stories, except where they have been incorporated into such teaching in the New Testament. All other stories will simply illustrate what is expressly taught elsewhere and will, it is hoped, prove helpful in showing us, through the foreshadowings of such precious truths, what a Divine unity pre- vails in the whole Scripture. 6. Defense of the Method. There is no apology for using these stories in teaching and enforcing spiritual truth. Indeed it is deliberately done because the writer believes that the modern cry against spiritualizing the Old Testament, while accomplishing some good in suppressing the fancy of certain men, has also done much harm in the way of undermining confidence in it as a divine book. We have taken away from it most of its sacred meaning and it has become to many, nothing but an ancient his- tory. ‘They have, therefore, very naturally ceased to go to it for spiritual light and meaning. But we have ample ground for such use of it as is here pro- posed. Jesus and the early disciples set us the example. They frequently made use of Old Testament incidents, both personal and national, to enforce New Testament principles. Stephen in his wonderful defense made use of the whole Jewish history to reveal the situation of the Jews of his day. He showed how it 18 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION was their habit always to first reject God’s message and messen- ger, then to endure a long period of suffering because of it, and finally to accept what they had at first rejected. He pointed out how they had first rejected Moses, then suffered forty years of oppression in Egypt and finally were delivered by him; how they refused to hear the true spies, then wandered forty years in the wilderness and afterward entered Canaan as they were urged to do then. He argued that in the same way they had rejected Jesus, they would now suffer the displeasure and punishment of God, and would finally accept and trust Him whom they had cru- cified. Paul used the story of Hagar and Ishmael and Sarah and Isaac as an allegory to illustrate the principle of law and faith in the plan of salvation and also to show the relation and dis- positions of our fleshly and spiritual natures. Peter used the flood in a way to make it represent judgment and the ark a figure of Christ. He also made the flood a figure of baptism. Jesus used the stories of Noah and his time to impress upon his hearers the need of readiness for His coming and the story of Jonah and the fish to illustrate His own death and burial. Other such examples furnish ample ground for our use of Old Testa- ment incidents in our teaching of truth. Nor can we believe as some have argued, and others implied, that we are only warranted in using those incidents that are used or referred to in the New Testament. That is to reject the rest as without spiritual import. But we are distinctly told that it was all written for our instruction. ‘The instruction, however, is available to us only as we see the application of it in our lives and spiritual relations. The proper view is that the use of certain things by the New Testament writers and speakers war- rants us in using others wherever they are applicable. And not to make such applications is to fail to get out of these narratives the profit which they are intended to bring. ‘These studies are, therefore, put forth boldly in the belief that God intended for us to make some such use of all of the Old Testament. CHARTER oI The Creation Story 7. An Impressive Story. In all literature there is not found another passage quite so picturesque, so concise and concrete as the six brief paragraphs by which the first chap- ter of Genesis shows how God, acting through six successive periods of light and darkness, prepared the world for man’s residence and put him in it. In the second chapter we do not have another story of creation as some have thought, but a recurrence to the subject of man’s creation, because of its special interest. In it, the presence and activity of Jehovah are particularly emphasized. He shows how God shaped man’s body out of the dust of the earth and breathed into it that which made it become a living soul. The creation of the woman was supernatural as well as that of the man, and was for the purpose of providing for man a helpful companion so that his happiness and development might be complete. Moreover, they were created in the image of God and like God have intelligence and will be and were, therefore, given authority to rule over the earth. One cannot read this story without feeling that man is not only different from all other creatures, but far above them, and that he is the chief end of all creation—that all things else were created on his be- half. 8. Those Who Study This Story. In the light of all this, it is not surprising that these two chapters have been the subject of most diligent study and that from every angle of approach. Both enemy and friend have pondered each word, the one to find truth and light, the other to find some fault that. might be exposed. The unbiased scientist also in his search for truth has come here for some word from that far distant past into which he cannot explore through “means of laboratory experiment and observation. He has wanted to see whether this story would throw any new light upon the great problems of the world and of man. The student of 20 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION life and religion has come here to find, if possible, some clue as to what in man has ledihim to his present position and to see if there is given any suggestion as to his final destiny. It is but natural, therefore, that the student of redemption should also turn here for light. Precisely this is what we are to do in this chapter. 9. All the Work of God. The things said about God show that He is “all and in all” of the story. The very first word tends to this feeling. “In the beginning God”. In this state- ment he makes God the explanation of all things. And over every truth discovered in nature today the reverent scientist joins Moses and writes as an explanation of it the word “God”. Then there follow eight other expressions “God created”, “God brooded over”, “God caused’, “God formed”, “God said”, occurring several times, “God blessed and said”, “God saw’, “God rested”. In these and their implications we are given a good knowledge of the work and purpose and providence of God. ‘They teach us that God not only created the world, but that He had a personal interest in all of its developing processes and that He controlled these processes and directed the outcome of it all. When we study the various things God said, we will come to the conclusion that man is of chief interest and is put over all the rest, and in fellow- ship with God. ‘The interest is not in earth, and seas and continents; not in geological or biological ages; not in cen- turies or cycles of development or change, but in man who by His grace was to come into a perfect social order and to dwell in fulness of fellowship with his Creator. We are also introduced to the omnipresence of God who could see all of His creation, whether movements of matter or actions of men. It closes with God at rest, satisfied with his world- making and world-developing work. It is finished in man whose partnership and fellowship with Himself will satisfy the purpose of the creating God. 10. The Six Days and Work of Redemption. And, first of all, it is most interesting and instructive to observe how THE CREATION STORY 21 much there is in the details of the story of creation that is suggestive of Christ’s work and of our relation to Him. We are not told of the method used in the creation of the phys- ical universe. All the emphasis is put upon the state or condition of the world when He began to prepare it for a home for man. It was all in chaos and darkness. It was altogether unfruitful and required the direct impact of the Spirit of God to bring it into order. The whole accomplishment of these six days appears to be a work of redemption. The Lord worked over the ma- terial He had already created. And this was primarily a work of the actual redemption of the physical universe. ‘The creation of the material universe was “in the beginning” (verse 1) and it is not possible to tell how long it was from that “In the beginning” to the incidents recorded in verse 2. Verse 2 says it “was without form and void” (or revised ver- sion “was waste and void”). The word translated “void” is again used where it is said that God “created it not a waste” (Isa. 45:18). This seems to teach that, in the creation of verse 1, it was not “without form and void” and hence that some time between the creation of verse 1 and the condition described in verse 2, material creation had undergone a fall that plunged it into chaos. It was a fallen or wrecked world and God here describes its recovery from the evil plight. At first all of it may have been more beautiful than the little spot of Eden in the renewed world, but it was then in ruins and the “six days” work was to restore or redeem it. This gives a world of meaning to the word “brooding.” It is an expression of motherly love and indicates the tone and purpose of all the story. True love is expressed in the mother idea. It longs to bring into being another, upon whom to lavish itself. It craves to have an answering love, that will respond to it. Impelled by this longing it expresses itself by bringing forth other life like unto itself. It will even give itself that life may come to another. And how beautiful to see the mother before the new life comes, mak- ing ready a home for it. Whether it be the mother bird 22 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION making ready the cosiest possible nest and then patiently brooding until her young come to possess it, or the human mother planning a place for her expected babe, it but ililus- trates the work of God in preparing the earth as a home for man, who was soon to appear as the creation of His love. The Bible does not call God “mother”, but it often speaks of Him in terms of a mother, as “brooding” here and “nurs- ing father” (Acts 13:18). But the word “father” usually includes both the father strength and the mother tenderness. And as father and mother He gave some of Himself by breathing into man His own life-breath so that he might be in the image of God. This is love in its finest form and doing its finest work. Nor can we see this and follow the story of His interest in man without knowing that like a mother would die for her offspring, He would climb Calvary and die for man who was made in His likeness. The word “brooding” (or “moved” in the old version) prob- ably is better rendered as “was brooding tremendously with love’. ‘This, in the light of a wrecked or ruined universe was not love merely giving life, but love giving itself to mend a break, to overcome a disaster; it was love in the act of re- demption. It was wooing back the fallen. So redeeming love always does—recovers the lost. It is a picture of Cal- vary. It reminds us of the spirit in which Jesus came to woo us back to God and right. He would give up His life that man might be saved. He gave His breath to man in creation, and gave His blood for man in salvation. And He gave the latter because He had given the former. It was redemptive work. This work of redeeming physical nature is a most sugges- tive illustration of the redemption of fallen men. Like the fallen world that lay in darkness and ruin, all men are fallen into moral darkness and ruin. ‘The whole process of recovery is alike in both. It is accomplished by the Spirit of God working in conjunction with His word. “The Spirit brooded (like a mother) upon the face of the waters and God said” {verse 2). The result was that light flashed forth and re- THE CREATION STORY 23 vealed the darkness and ruins. This giving of light was the work of the first day. In like manner the whole work of six days and each of the acts of these days furnished a parallel to the work of the redemption of lost man. 11. The Term “Create.” It is worth our while in this sec- tion to note that in the six days God, for the most part, is said to have “made” not that He “created”. The word create occurs only three times in chapter 1. (1) In verse 1 where it is said He created the material world which we have discussed. (2) In verse 21, where He is said to have created animal life. (3) In verse 27, where it claimed that He created man with his spiritual nature which is far above the animal or material existence. Physical matter, animal life and human life each involved an independent act of creation. This triple crea- tion, out of nothing of world stuff, animal life and human or spiritual life, helps us at exactly the place where all science is helpless to explain. It indicates that there can be no cross- ing the line between physical and animal or between animal and human. There was no development out of one into the other. Each was a separate act of creation. Here God is seen as the great Creator, more especially the Life-giver. Life is the great central truth of Genesis. It is, so to speak, the key-note, the thread upon which all else, such as the biographies, is strung. 12. The Name of “God”. It is of interest also, to note that the name of God as Creator is a una-plural noun, which in the Hebrew means three or more. Here is the suggestion of the Trinty, especially emphasized when the creation of man was involved and He said “Let us make man, etc.” We know that Christ the second person of the God-head was the Creator of all material existence (Col. 1:16). But when it came to man, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, all acted in unison. Here again is a parallel. It required the Trinity to create man, so now it seems to take the Triune God to redeem him from the curse of the fall. God planned redemption, Christ worked it out and perfected 24 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION the plan, and the Holy Spirit regenerates and guides and seals us. We can not fail to observe that after man comes on the scene, (all of 2:4-25) the Name of Deity is changed from God to LORD (GOD) or JEHOVAH GOD. Jehovah is the self- existent God who reveals Himself as Savior. It is God’s name in His covenant relation to man. It is suggestive of blood. We have just seen how the Savior, as one of the Trinity, participated in the creation of man, and now we see how in His creation the covenanting and saving God (Je- hovah God) is chiefly active (2:7). The fact that God in his saving capacity created him, suggests that even the creation had in it a redemptive purpose. 13. Deity’s Approach to Man. The several steps by which Deity comes to man as Savior, seem to be about as follows: (1) Far back in eternity or before it, the eternally begotten Son is dwelling in the bosom of the Father. (2) The eternal pur- pose planned the redemption of a fallen world and the Son became “The Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world”. (3) The Son, then, in the execution of that eternal plan, became Creator, crowning His creation, in cooperation with the Trinity, with man who was to be redeemed. (4) With man now on the scene, Deity comes a little closer to him as Jehovah, who is the pre-incarnate Son of Deity in his saving capacity. This manifestation is particularly impressive when Adam and Eve had sinned and as Jehovah, or Savior God, He came to them in the Garden. (5) In the fulness of time, Jehovah became Emmanuel, or God with us. This He did in Jesus and in that capacity accomplished the redemp- tion which had been purposed in eternity. 14. Resume. There was then, a first or primary creation, and afterwards a fall; there was a first heaven and earth and then an earth without a heaven—in darkness and buried in deep barren and restless waters. The work of the six days was a remolding of that lapsed creation. It was as we may call it, the new birth of the world. And how significant that THE CREATION STORY 25 birth is, as a type of the redemption of man. Having fallen away from God, man like the material creation is in profound darkness and all the billows of sin have submerged that which was once pure and beautiful. Before Jesus enters into the human heart (now fallen) it is full of disorder and chaos. It is unfruitful in all the things that were divinely purposed. Nor has it in itself the power to set itself right. There are no laws within itself that will finally bring it out of this chaotic and unprofitable state. It tends to grow worse in- stead of better and like the fallen and chaotic earth must have assistance from without. There must be a new birth. The Spirit must brood upon the face of the waters, and God must call forth light. So also we must be “Born of the Spirit” and of “The incorruptible seed through the word of God” (I Peter 1:23). CHAPTER III The Seven Days’ Work Questions and Themes for Study. At the beginning of this and the following chapters there is given a list of questions for study. The purpose is to lead the student to become familiar with the contents of the Scripture narrative before asking him to consider the religious import of it. In each case let these topics be fully dis- cussed before taking up the discussions that follow. In this chapter learn: (1) What was the condition of the physical universe when God began to prepare it for man’s abode? 1:1-2. (2) How many and what things are said to have been done by God, such as God said, saw, etc. —make a list? chapters 1-2 (3) What were the successive acts of creation? 1:3-27. (4) What facts are given about the creation of man? 1:26-27; 2:7. (5) What blessings and gifts are granted to man? 1:29-30. What religious institution did God establish and symbolize? 2:1-3. (7) What was Adam’s home and what duties and blessings and restrictions were given him? 2:8-17. (8) What provision was made for man’s fellowship and what institution was established? 2:18-24. (9) In what respect is man in the image of God? 1:26-27. (10) What is man’s position in regard to lower animals and physical nature? 1:28-30; 2:9,15,19,-20. (11) What are some of the traditions of crea- tion? Other Things Than Man 15. Introductory. The first work here—the work of the first day—was to give light upon the earth. It shined out upon a great disolation. God looked upon that light and saw that it was good, but it was all He saw that He could call good. And let it be remembered that the source of this light was not in the earth itself. It could never have originated light. It came from the Word of God, acting in connection with the power of the Holy Spirit. One is reminded of the saying of the psalmist ‘The entrance of Thy word giveth light.” (Psa. 1192130); All this is suggestive of Jesus concerning whose coming it is said “The people which sat in darkness saw a great light; and to THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK of them which sat in the region and shadow of death light sprang up (Mat. 4:16). Compare also Isa. 9:2 and Luke 1:78-79, Paul says our “senseless heart was darkened,’ (Rom. 1:21). In these scriptures we learn that like as the world was in darkness when God began the work of His redemption, so is the heart of man in darkness until it is entered by Jesus. As God’s first act in preparing the world for man’s occupancy was to give physical light, so Christ’s first work of redemption in us is to give us spirit- ual light. Superstition and ignorance and sin and Satan have blinded us to all that is dangerous and bad, and also to all that is best and highest in life. Speaking of the unsaved, Paul says “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving (2 Cor. 4:4). Jesus calls His followers “The children of light” (Lu. 16:8) and Himself “The Light of the world” (John 8:12). Of the far distant past it could be said “In the beginning —God.” God was old, “The Ancient of Days,’ when the heavens and earth felt the first stir of life in the womb of the universe. The oldest child is light. The night and darkness of the world was touched into splendor by the brooding Spirit of God. There in the beginning God said “Let there be light” and began to unfold the universe. Then far down in the advanced course of things, Jesus said, “I am the Light of the world, and in that suggestion shows that the spiritual world is as the physical world, without light. If then, we would know what Jesus does for men, we must consider what is the nature of light and what it does for physical world. 16. Light as a Symbol of Jesus. What an illustration of Christ and His work is light! It is one of the most suggestive of all the figures used concerning Him. Many think it is the very finest of all the New Testament symbols by which He and His work are described. Surely it expresses a vast deal about Him. (1) First of all light is universal. It gives its blessings alike to all—to the rich and poor, to the ignorant and wise, to the re- putable and disreputable. It shines alike upon city and town and country-side, upon palace and hovel. Like Jesus it is absolutely partial to none and is prepared and offered to all men. His shin- 28 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION ‘ing is unto the ends of the earth and all sinners may have Jesus, if they will. And more still there is a ray suited for every type of ‘being. Vast is the difference in the eyes of God’s different crea- ‘tures. Some can see afar off, others can only see at close range. “some have ability to apprehend one and others another length of ‘light wave. But there is something suitable for all. In like man- ner Jesus is made for all men. The wise and learned are challenged by His wisdom and profundity; the ignorant and unlettered are attracted by His simplicity. He meets alike the need of the cul- tured who have the most delicate regard for life of all sorts and of the savage, man-eating cannibal of the jungle. He equally satis- fies and fulfills the highest good in men of all races and colors. He is the world’s one universal personality—the Son of Man— and can not be claimed by any class or nation or race. He is Savior and Lord of all. (2) In the next place, light reveals. It uncovers to us both ‘the good and the bad. Two evils may grow out of our being in the dark. On the one hand we may be kept in fear of dangers that do not exist and need the light to dispel our false fear. On the other hand we may be resting in a feeling of perfect security and need the light to show us the dangers that exist all around us. Such has been the case with many a man when his physician diagnosed his case and told him that he was possessed with a mor- tal disease. He felt well even when in danger of an early death, And it is surprising sometimes how little light is needed. One ray passing into a dark room will discover to us all the dust particles in its pathway. In some such way as this Jesus came to be the Light of the world. He has so shined upon us as to show us life, both as it really is and as it should be. He shows us both ourselves and God. With it all He has shown us much that is bad. But let us not be disconsolate, if, by His shining into our hearts, He has revealed the existence of that which is ill. We are simply learning the first day’s lesson, and in spite of all that it discloses the light itself is good. Let us welcome it as from God. It is the beginning of His gracious work in us and gives promise of the day that is to come. Without this Light from Heaven we should have gone on in our sins and would have THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 22 come to the judgment with no preparation to meet Him. How good it was of Him to come and show us our need! And further- more He shows us the future. The other life is revealed in Him. After this life he still had the same personality. He was still interested in the same things and in the same people. What a comfort is that! We shall live on after this life. We shall still be ourselves; only glorified. We shall love the same things, and be interested in the same things. What comfort concerning our- selves and our loved ones! ‘They are the same persons eternally. Like Jesus they still have interest in us as they did before death. What revelations He did make of sin and salvation, of man and God, of time and eternity! But without Him these things are darkness. (3) Again light is pure. It can not be contaminated. It penetrates all the polution of the atmosphere of our earth and is untouched and remains as pure as before it came from its source above. In like manner Jesus our Savior came from Heaven to earth and lived among our sinful inhabitants and was Himself as pure when He returned to Heaven as before He came. He could eat and associate with publicans and sinners without be- coming sinful. No sin ever marred Him. He left for men the record of an unstained character and returned pure to the pure source from which He came. And before He went away Pilate could say “I find no fault in Him,” and to this day He stands forth the one perfect man shows us what we may become in Him. (4) Moreover, light is both gentle and severe. Nothing else is more gentle and soft. How it calms our spirits when its kind- ly rays beat upon us! It is so gentle that, although a ray must shoot millions of miles from the sun to our earth, it will not make a dew drop tremble upon a leaf. So is the gentleness of Jesus. He would take little children in His arms and bless them or with a touch of sympathy would heal a helpless leper or speak a kind- ly word of forgiveness to an adulterous woman. But light is also severe. Where its rays are collected and focussed upon any combustible material they soon destroy it by fire. So is Jesus severe as well as kind. He will burn up the chaff with unquench- 30 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION able fire and will cast the tares into the fire. He who wept with the broken-hearted sisters of the dead Lazarus and put His inestimable blessing upon innocent children, also cursed the bar- ren fig tree (Mat. 21:12-20). So, too, He who saves the penitent sinner will also sit in judgment to condemn and assign to ever- lasting judgment all those who do not accept His love. As light, He is both gentle and severe. (5) Once more light is necessary to life and happiness and hope. Even plant and animal life require a certain amount of light. In many cases the plant requires more than just light. It must have direct rays of the sun and will not grow well in the shade. ‘The effect is even more noticeable in man. When wholly deprived of light he soon loses all happiness and often also loses all reason. Even a cloudy or rainy and gloomy day tells tremendously on his'spirit. This is weil understood by ail busi- ness men. One can hardly close a trade that involved an ex- change of valuable property on such a day. Persons charged with soliciting funds for any charitable or religious or benevolent cause know that much better success attends their efforts on a bright sunny day. The explanation of this is that the light gives cheer and joy and optimism to life. It effects our attitude to- ward every problem of life and greatly influences our relation toward both men and God. In all this light is a fit symbol of Jesus. He alone can give any true and permanent happiness. He came to give us fulness of joy. In the midst of the multitude of disappointments in life and facing death as we do constantly and possessed as we are of much forboding about the future life, we could have no real joy but for the hope and truth we find in the Son of God. But we can rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and through Him see in the future our highest and best. Along with this is the other fact that He alone can give life. We are dead in our trespasses and in our sins, but He makes us alive unto God. Apart from Him there is eternal death, but in Him there is everlasting life. For He came that we “might have life and that we might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). He is indeed, “the resurrec- tion and the life.’ Here is the vital distinction between men. THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 31 Some are “Sons of darkness’? while others have received the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6) and are “The sons of light and the sons of the day” (Eph. 5:8). He gives new powers of life for this world. How many a dull and stupid youth has bristled with alertness of mind as soon as he saw Jesus. See them forge rapidly ahead to the places of leadership as soon as Jesus has gained control of them. The centers of life are quickened, the flame of. life is lightened and something new begins to grow in us as soon as Jesus the “Light of the World” touches our spirits with His life-giving power. Everywhere this fertilizing, creating, life-giving wonder of light confronts us. Whether in the sky above or in the earth be- low, or in the deeps under the earth we are ever in the presence of this begetting power of light. The coal miner brings up black fuel from the bowels of the earth. But what are the coal beds but huge layers of stored up sunshine. All the immense coal fields of the world are nothing but condensed sunlight that God has left for our use. It. is the sun’s shed blood turned black. In the spring the earth smiles with measureless green. One spring is a miracle too great to comprehend. And what can we say of all the springs that have thrilled with color and life and the song of bird! ‘They are the expression of the creative and life-begetting work of light as the earth comes nearer to the - sun. Indeed, scientists tell us that, if the sun were suddenly blotted out there would not be a sign of animal or vegetable life on our planet at the end of seventy two hours. Seas below and clouds above would become solid ice and the temperature would drop to 260 degrees below zero and all life would cease. In like manner there can be no spiritual life apart from Jesus. Remove Him and the souls of men die. He begets spiritual life and maintains it and whenever a soul is separated from Him it dies and that without recovery. (6) Then there is the variety of light. This is understood best when by means of the prism we break up its rays into the beautiful rainbow colors. But light delights in clothing itself in myriad shades of colors and is the secret of all that is fair ‘and beautiful on land or sea, or in the heavens above. All 32 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION nature with its ten thousand features is constantly saying to us “TY am what I am because light is what it is and has painted me thus.” Here is a blood red rose. Inquire whence cometh that color and the rose will answer back to your soul, “My rich red comes from the fiery red of the light of the sun.” Here is another whose petals are of tender golden color. It declares that it trusts to the same sun and attributes its color to the same light from which comes the beauty of its red sister. Then there is pink and purple and white and cream with a thousand varieties in rose or pink or lily, all announcing the variety of light which has painted them. And what shall we say of its wonders painted in connection with animal life? See the beauty of bird wonders in the forest. There is a bird with a wondrous grey back with white and blackish wings, and with tail feathers of delicate white. There is another with a glorious tuft of flashing yel- low on its head but that yellow is streaked with jet black. Another is covered with the most beautiful blue and another in a glorious silken green. These creatures, velvet-gowned in white and black and saffron and black and blue and green, and a thousand others, are but an exhibition of the glorious colorings of light. There is a tiger in the jungle. Behold the exquisite softness that covers its ferocious body. See those waves of gold and bars of black, or see the lion’s mane and there is the versatility of light. Here are three grapes, one is purple, one is blue- black and one is emerald. Each of them is just a variegated globe of sun-juice. And how like the doings of Jesus is this varied work of light. There is no end to the variety of life that He can make. He makes all human trueness and His indwelling expands us into every possible type of human largeness and nobility. He masters every kind of human temperament and changes the man who cant to one who can. He creates in men royalty of every type because of His great creative ability. Look at John the ambitious, hot- tempered fisherman, only an average human being. Goodness and badness are alike in his nature, but he met Jesus and be- came His wonderful disciple. His marvelously changed life is only one of the rays, one of the beautiful colors that ray forth THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 33 from Jesus the Light of the World. Then there is Saul of Tarsus, the haughty, self-willed Pharisee—slayer of Christians. But he fell under the power of the “Light of the World” and both his name and his nature are changed. The substance of his character was changed, the inmost fibre of his being was re- created and the center of his personality moved. And what might be said of Peter and Barnabas and Luke and Mark and thousands in our day such as Moody or Jerry McCauley or Billy Sunday or McClaren or Spurgeon or Milton or Bunyan or Carey! Jesus is the explanation of them all. The physical universe is no stronger argument for God than is all this varied Christian life for the redemptive versatility of Jesus the “Light of the World.” ‘There they are, Augustine, Francis, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Edwards, Robertson, Beecher, Brooks, Gladstone, Wood- row Wilson, along with Moses and David and Isaiah and Daniel and Peter and John and Paul and myriads of others of all shades of beauty that are being woven into the rainbow of glory that shall crown Jesus our Savior. What wondrous variety thus to show beauty and eternal glory in every human soul that will accept His light! (7) Finally light—pure white light—is invisible. It is com- posed of several other colors. It has especially red and blue and yellow. This suggests a trinity. When it passes through a prism and is broken up then its seven beautiful colors are seen. Nor can they be seen unless they are thus broken. So also, it was necessary for Jesus to be broken on the cross before we could behold in Him the glories of the Father. These seven colors are those found in the rainbow which God used as a pledge and sign of His covenant law, just as Christ broken on the cross is God’s pledge of redemption. The incidents of the second and third days may be passed over with much briefer notice than has been given to the light created on the first. On the second day the firmament was formed. God separated the waters above from those below, and -always since the waters below have been attracted upward and then poured out in blessing in rain upon the earth. This may illus- trate how the things above are constantly attracting the things 34 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION below. ‘The spiritual appeals to the natural and bids it come up higher. God above reaches down to man and tries to persuade him to set his affection on things above and would indeed lead him to live at last with his Maker on high. But what if there were no upward attraction of waters, and consequently no rain? The waters of the sea would avail nothing for the parching earth. It is only after they have been lifted up on high that they can rain and bless the world. Nor can we be of real use to men until we have been lifted up to heavenly places in Christ Jesus and then released upon the earth that ‘we may bless it. Again, let us remember that when once this water is drawn up out of the seas into the clouds, it is no longer free. It cannot choose where it as rain shall fall. In like manner, those of us who have been attracted to Jesus are at His disposal. He has the right to put us anywhere in the world He wishes and to use us to bless men as He will. Once more we call to mind that in being attracted to the clouds above and before they again fall to the earth, the waters are purified. The purest water of all is that which falls as rain. It may be drawn up from a stream full of death-dealing germs but it is purified in the pro- cess. So is the soul of man—corrupt. But when it is drawn up to Jesus by the power of the Cross, that soul is cleansed and changed from danger to a blessing. The work of the third day divides itself into two parts. The first work of the day was to recover the earth from its submerged condition and cause it to stand forth as dry ground. He raised the earth from the watery grave of waste in which it was buried. This is a figure of the resurrection life or the renewed spiritual life. The sinner was dead in sin and had to be made alive unto God in Jesus Christ, just as this fallen earth had to be brought up and out of the waters of waste that covered it. This was accomplished by the word of God and we have the dry ground. It is recovered from its loss and ruin. The second work of this day was to cause this raised earth to produce grass and herbs and trees. ‘These it produced from within. Here is fruitfulness. There had been no fruit up to this time, at least since the earth lapsed. The resurrected earth he- THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 35 came fruitful. It was its nature to do so. This is the order in the spiritual world. The sinner who has been raised with Christ to a new life is capable of producing fruit to God. Nor is he able to produce such fruit until he has been so raised. Try as much as they will, the wicked cannot serve God acceptably. They must first be saved by the power and word of God. It is to be noted here, also that the whole order is valuable. First there is light, then the firmament which furnished an at- traction from above and then the earth comes forth and clothes herself in grandeur. So in the work of grace. We are given spiritual light, then we are drawn up toward God by the power of Jesus on the cross, and then we come forth as new born from spiritual death. After that we begin to bear fruit unto the Lord. Moreover we should notice that in the first three things God acts from without. The earth could do nothing of itself, just as a sinner can do nothing in the matter of saving himself. But, when it was thus recovered from its burial, it had in it the power of fruit bearing. So likewise the saved man will from the nature within him bear fruit to the glory of God. It is the very nature of the Christian to bear such fruit. A life of righteous- ness and service springs naturally out of the divine seed planted in him in the new birth. 17. The Sun as a Symbol. The study of light which God called forth on the first day calls for a study of the two great light holders—-the sun and moon—which were formed on the fourth day. And first of all we are interested in the sun as a figure of Jesus. The Scripture gives us full authority for com- paring Him to the sun. The prophet in speaking of His coming said, “The Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in his wings” (or beams), Mal. 4:2. It should be noted that it is “Sun” and not “Son” of righteousness. Zacharias says that He came as the “dayspring (or sun-rising) from on high,” Luke 1 :78. In these two passages we are taught that what the sun-is to light Christ is to righteousness and that as the sun-rising chases away the darkness, so Jesus clears away our shadows and brightens the gloomy and hopeless in our lives. A few com- parisons will suffice. 36 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION (1) The sun originates and sends forth light. What vast and amazing abundance of light he radiates! Where does he get in the boundless supplies of fuel? Who stokes the fires of the sun that he may continue his blaze of light. It springs up out of the very nature of the sun. It is begotten and bred and born out of his heart. The sun cannot help shining. ‘To cease to shine, to cease to send forth his glorious rays would be to cease to be the sun. In the same way Jesus is the “Sun of righteous- ness.” As the sun gives forth rays of light, Jesus sheds forth His rays of righteousness. He is the origin of all righteousness. It is in His very nature to show forth righteousness, and to cease to manifest it would be impossible by reason of His very nature. All righteousness of men forever came from Him and in the next world men will as the redeemed remain righteous eternally, be- cause they will be eternally supplied from His abundance. (2) The sun is the center of our system. Our world system is under the spell of the power of the sun. All the lesser lights and orbs revolve around it. Its rising chases away the mists and shadows of the night and gladdens all creation with its shining. With the rising of the sun birds are set to singing and men re- turn to their useful occupations. Everything depends upon this great luminary of the day that brings all of our light and heat. How forcefully does this suggest the glorious supremacy of Jesus in all the spiritual realm. Everything in the spiritual world depends upon Him and is controlled by Him. All other spiritual forces are under His mastery and throughout all the vast eternity He will be the center of attraction and interest and joy to all of the redeemed and to all of the spiritual principalities and powers in Heaven. There is not now and never will be any other to whom we may go for spiritual light and blessing. (3) The sun is unchangeable and inexhaustible. Helmholtz, whose theory is now commonly accepted, says that the sun’s bulk is gradually being contracted and that the energy thus generated is turned into heat and from this comes our light. The amount of heat given off per year according to estimates would require the sun’s radius to contract only 150 feet. This would not be noticeable by the most powerful telescope for 10,000 years and THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 37 this contraction would have to continue ten million years before the sun would be too dead to sustain life in its entire solar sys- tem. And how inexhaustible is the sun’s supply of light and heat. Professor Simon Newcombe estimates that the amount of heat thrown off by the sun every hour is equal to the burning of coal enough to cover the entire surface of the sun twenty feet deep. This boundless sun energy and the constancy with which it continues to shine is a noble illustration of the unchangeableness and inexhaustibleness of Jesus. The physical sun will be finally extinguished, but only as the whole world system ends. But Jesus cannot fail. He is the vitality and genius of the Godhead and of all eternity. He had no beginning and will have no ending. And what must be the effect of this continuous shining on the souls of men. It gives growth here as does all light. How great then must be the spiritual stature of those who, in the spir- it world where He is the light, continue through centuries to dwell in the fulness of His light. If Stephen’s face glowed in His light as he fell under the power of the stones of his enemies, how, it must glow like a ruby smitten by the sun. As this unchange- able light continues throughout eternity to fall upon us our prog- ress and beauty shall continue. This inexhaustible supply shall be ours forever. (4) The sun dwells in the heavens. ‘There, with all the planets looking up to it, the sun keeps well out of physical touch of any of them. Here is a beautiful figure of Jesus, who came to earth and return again to Heaven, God’s dwelling place, whence He now sheds down upon us His unchanging light and blessing. Soon also He will come again. And then He will dispel forever all the darkness of life and will bring the dawning of a bright and cloudless morning which, because of His glorious shining, will lengthen out into the never ending day of glory. 18. The Moon as a Symbol. The moon is wonderfully dii- ferent from the sun. It is a secondary light, the light of the night, but originates no light of its own. It is cold and dark compared with the sun from which all of its light is derived. 38 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION In its nature, in its relation to the sun, and in its purpose and use to men the moon finally illustrates the relation and work of the church when thought of in connection with Christ. If the sun illustrates Jesus and His work, the moon represents the church and its work. For of the disciples of Jesus it is said, “Ye are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). (1) Originates no light. In this connection it is of absorb- ing interest to note that the moon originates no light. She has none of her own. Her task is to stand in the pathway of the light of the sun and reflect his light back to the darkened earth. Without the sun she could do nothing. She does not show forth her own glory, but that of the sun whose light bathes her cold and helpless face. Beautiful suggestion! ‘The business of the church and of every Christian is to let the heavenly light of Jesus shine on them and to reflect it in undimmed brightness to the bedarkened souls of other men. Nor can we originate any light from within ourselves. And since she has no light of her own the church is not called upon to show herself to the world, but to manifest Jesus from whom she receives the light. She must exhibit the traits of character of Jesus, and thus show forth a copy of Him. It is a pitiable sight to see a Christian or a church trying to make a display of self. Like the moon we have noth- ing of our own worth showing. To attempt any such dispiay is to descend to a very low and unworthy task and always fore- tokens the shame and coming humiliation of the one thus pros- tituting the purpose to which we are appointed. (2) Shines when the Sun is out of sight. Nor does the moon display the glory shed upon her except when the sun is out of sight. When the sun arises in the morning the moon loses her radiance and is content to be wholly overshadowed by him. In just such a fashion we represent Jesus. He, as the eternal “Light of the world,” came to our earth, but is now departed again into the heavens. He is not seen by the unbelieving world, but the church sees Him and reflects His glorious spiritual light upon the darkened hearts of sinful men. The chief duty of the church is to let the heavenly light of Jesus shine upon her and pass it THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 39 on to others who are in need. ‘Then, too, He will come back again. As the sun returns at the morning time and the moon retires while the world revels in the fulness of the presence of the king of day, so will Jesus come again and the church will cease to be the light of the world. We represent Him only in His absence. He will be here again and will be all and in all and His glory will fill all. Tull that day come, we must be faith- ful, but pray for and rejoice in the hope of that coming eternal day with Jesus. (3) Changeableness of the Moon. And how changeful is the moon! She has none of the constancy and eternal changeless- ness of the sun. She is sometimes but a mere crescent, some- times a quarter or half moon, but is rarely seen full-orbed in the heavens. At best she is but a poor representative of the sun, and is seldom at her best, doing her utmost shining. Here is a figure of the church. What a reflection! We are such poor reflectors. ‘The image of Jesus is but poorly seen in us at the best. For us to live should be for Christ to live. Our walk and talk should portray His spirit and deeds. But most of the time we are turned away from Him in part and people can see but little of us that seems Christian. Only occasionally, perhaps when some great crisis or test has come to us, or during periods of special revival power, do we become aglow with the fine ef- fulgence of the shining of Jesus in our lives. And the pity is that the world gropes in a bedimmed light most of the time. (4) The Moon sometimes unseen. ‘Then, too, there are times when the moon is not seen at all. This condition arises only under two circumstances. One is when the earth and its mists come between the sun and the moon. This is most suggestive. The earth, which the moon is intended to light, prevents that light. This is precisely the parallel to the situation with the church. It always manifests the light of Jesus to the lost except when this world and its influences come between us and Him. Here is our high duty—to see to it that no earthly influence shall in- tervene to eclipse the light we should shed forth upon men. If we could go up to the moon when in her glory, we would find 40 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION that we were not in the glory of the moon, but would be bath- ing in the glory of the sun and her rays of splendor. So when a sinner is attracted by the church and comes to behold her for himself, he should find himself in the blessed light of Jesus, her source of light. But what a calamity, if the sinner comes to the church and finds not the light of Jesus. Jesus calls us to “Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). Again he warned us, “If therefore the light is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness” (Matt. 6:23). Without our shining the world will be in darkness. The responsibility cannot be shirked. ‘To meet this obligation will be everlasting praise, to default in it will be unspeakable shame. And let us, in the face of all the allurements of this world, remember constantly that it is only worldliness that can dim our light for Jesus and the lost. In this connection it is interesting to note that the moon some times shuts the earth up in darkness by herself getting between the sun and the earth. The sun is eclipsed by the moon. This is the other circumstance when the moon fails to give light. The very planet that was intended to give light when the sun is out of sight gets in the way when it otherwise ought to be in sight. Certainly that is a most unfortunate situation. But just this happens also in the case of Christ and the church. His light is not only shut off from men because worldly influence comes between us and Jesus, but we sometimes actually come in be- tween Jesus and the men He would otherwise reach. What a perversion of life is that? Those who should show Jesus to men so get in the way that men cannot see Him, if they try. The worldly influences which they have allowed to come be- tween them and Jesus have put them in a position such that they shut off Christ from the men He would save. It is the old story of standing in the way of sinners, one that every Christian must constantly guard against. (5) Reflects only part of the light. Once more let us take to heart the lesson of the fact that the moon can only reflect a part of the light. Of the three basic colors—red, blue and yellow—it THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 41 can only reflect the yellow. And when we recall the function of these three elements of light, this fact will become increasing suggestive. The function of the blue light is to give life. De- prived of that the life germ does not develop in the seed of the plant. The fruit will become full grown and beautifully ripe, if through a prism the blue rays are cut off from it, but the seed in it will not sprout and spring into life. It must come under this life-giving blue to secure life in itself. The function of the red light is to heat, and by that heat to nurture and develop the life. Without that element the life given by the blue could not continue. And without a suitable amount of it there could be no comfort for that life. The simple and only purpose of the yellow in light is to illumine—to guide. But the blue, that heavenly color which alone can give life, and the red which alone can sustain life are not found in the rays reflected by the moon and hence it can neither give nor sustain life. What of the analogy! The church, which is analogous in po- sition to that of the moon, has no power to do more than illu- minate. No church or individual Christian; no preacher or pre- late; no priest or pope can either give or withhold life. Nor can they sustain it after it is given. There is no such thing as church salvation. Christ alone saves. Nor can the church or any servant of it keep us after we are saved. Jesus not only saves but keeps. These blessed works He will not commit to the hands of frail and imperfect men no matter how devout friends they may be to Him. What a joy this fact is! These great powers come con- stantly from His unchanging and unchangeable nature and thus are safeguarded the interests of all. Our salvation and keeping are in His hands and can not be affected by the weakness or whims of men. Let the church go on pointing sinners to Jesus who is the way and means of salvation, but let no soul hope to find salvation except through relation with Jesus and His saving power. Merely to unite with the church or to keep its ordinances will not save any one. Not the moon but the sun gives life-giv- ing light, and not the church but Jesus saves us unto eternal life. 42 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION Man 19. Husband and wife. We come next to the consideration of man who stands over against all the other works of God’s hands as superior to them. We are to think of Adam and Eve, the first pair, separately and in their relation to each other and to God. And let it be said that we do not make this narrative originate any doctrine, but we do use it to illustrate teachings found elsewhere. Moreover, we have ample ground in the New Testament teaching for using the relation of this husband and wife as a figure of Christ and His church. First of all, the hus- band and wife and their various relations to each other, are often used in the New Testament to teach us concerning Jesus and His people (Eph. 5:22-23). Even in the Old Testament the wife is frequently used as a figure of God’s people and God speaks of being married to Israel. In the next place, Jesus Himself is called the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45) and we are, thereby, given proper sanction for comparing Jesus and Adam in all their re- lations and work. 20. Adam the Head of the Race. The first thing to attract our attention when we come to study Adam is that he was made in the image of God. He was a spiritual being who had qualities of life like those of God. No other of all God’s creatures had this distinction. So wonderful is the nature of man that no other among all beasts of the field was suited to associate with him or to claim a nature like this. God deliberately made him in His own likeness. Here is the first high way in which he pre- figures Jesus, the last Adam. ‘The writer of Hebrews says of Jesus that He was “the efiulgence of His (God’s) glory, and the very image of His (God’s) substance’) (Heb. 1:3). Jesus Himself says, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He had in Him the very glory of God. If we would see the wisdom or power or goodness or grace of God we have only to see Jesus. Adam was only a poor human image while Jesus is the fulness of Deity, being Himself God. In the next place we are impressed with the fact that Adam was before all other men. He was the head of the whole race, THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 43 all of which proceeded out of him. God did not even create Eve out of “the dust of the ground’, as He had Adam, but took her out of his body so that the whole race should come out of him. She would then have his nature and he would bequeath to all of his descendants a nature altogether like his own. The whole human family, therefore, has like passions and appetites and characteristics of weakness and of strength to those of Adam our federal head. And like him we have all had similar responsibil- ities and have all alike failed, as did he, to measure up to them. He was in all things the head of the race of men. If he was sin- ful, so are they. If he fell under the curse of the law, they fell too. If he is destined to die, so are they. In all this he was a fit representative and prefiguring of Jesus who is the head of all things and especially of the spiritual family of God. Indeed He begins a new and redeemed race like unto Himself. This is a gracious thought that the redeemed have been given a nature like that of Jesus so that they love righteousness and love God and lost souls like He does. Then, too, having a similar nature, and being inseparably linked with Him, they have the same des- tiny that He has. If he does not die, we shall not die. If He is admitted into the Father’s presence in peace, then we are “accepted in the beloved.” If He is crowned King of kings and Lord of lords we shall reign with Him as priests and kings unto God. Jesus Himself said to the Father, “The glory thou hast given to me, I have given to them also” (Jno. 17:22). The Christian’s relation to Him, then, is parallel to the relation of all mento Adam. There never was and never will be but these “two Adams,” but these “two federal heads” of the race. One is physical, the other spiritual. One is head of the fallen and the other is the head of the spiritual race. 21. Eve, Adam’s Wife. The next matter of vital interest in this story is the creation of Eve, the wife of Adam, and the place she occupied. And first of all we should consider the purpose of her creation. The explanation of this is found in the fact that God saw that it was “Not good that man should be alone’ (Gen. 2:18). He saw that woman was needful for the complete well-being, development and happiness of Adam. 44 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION She was, therefore, made for the benefit of man. When applied to Jesus and the church this is a thought of profound significance. If the church occupies a relation to Him similar to that which Eve had to Adam, then the church was needful to Jesus. And just as God would not leave the first Adam without a “help- meet,’ so He would not leave Jesus, the last Adam, alone. As Adam would be incomplete and a blank in creation without Eve, so Jesus would be incomplete in the New Creation without His bride, the church. This view will furnish us a new and exalted conception of our redemption. Such a view of our salvation gives it a far wider and deeper significance than the mere blessedness and security of the individuals who are saved. It suggests that we are somehow needful to Christ. His glory is, in some mysterious way, involved in and connected with the existence of the church. I am, therefore, entitled, and that on the authorship of the Scrip- ture, to count myself as a part of that which is needful to the Savior. Here, then, is the chief interest in the work of redemp- tion. It is not primarily for our sakes, but for Christ’s. ‘This also makes our salvation all the more secure. For as believers we cannot doubt that there is ample provision for all of our necessities, both temporal and eternal, because it is necessary to the glory and honor of Jesus. This view is borne out by such statements as that where Isaiah says, “He shall see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.’ Somehow He was not satisfied apart from the church which He redeemed. He wanted some one on whom to lavish His affections. He wanted to make a sacrifice comparable to His nature. This is also brought out in the great analysis of the spiritual blessings we have received (Eph. 1:3-14) in which he three times declared that it was all to the praise of the glory of His grace. Our salvation, then, is not primarily for our happiness, but for Christ’s. It is more His matter than ours. We are saved for Christ’s sake. 22. Eve’s Creation—the First Shadowing of the Cross. In this connection, we should consider the manner of Eve’s crea- tion. Jehovah caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and took out one of his ribs and out of it formed (or built) the woman THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 45 (Gen. 2:21-22). She was, therefore, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. This also made them of one nature and formed the eternal ground of the marriage relation. Eve, his help-meet, was provided by his own suffering and that to the point of shedding his blood. Her creation was indeed a miracle which could be performed alone by Deity. How like the church, Christ’s bride, is all this! As above indicated, she was needful to Him, but she could not be pre- pared except through His suffering. It took the shedding of His precious blood, because His death alone could prepare that spirit- ual material out of which the church could be built. It should also be said that just as Eve was of one nature with Adam, and had before God the same standing with him, so through His death and suffering, Jesus imparts to us His own Divine nature, and _destines us to become like Him. Moreover, we find here the first shadowing forth of the cross. It is the first case of the shedding of blood and that by the First Adam who was a figure of Jesus, the Last Adam. Its shedding also made possible his wife with all the consequent blessing, just as Christ purchased unto Himself the Church, the Lamb’s wife by the shedding of His blood. And, furthermore, it was God Himself who shed Adam’s blood to provide her. It certainly is very suggestive that the first blood ever shed upon earth should have been to provide an illustration of the suffering and death of Jesus and that it resulted in a type of the results of His death on the cross. The first suffering of earth was human suffering and the sufferer was a type of Christ and the result which God brought out of that suffering was a type of God’s people. Once more Adam suffered before he sinned so that it was a sinless sufferer—so that the type is all the more harmonious. Nor was a sinner created out of his suffering. Eve, who was formed from that rib, was pure, just as God makes us new-born in Christ. Born of His blood and Spirit, we are cleansed and made new and purged and justified through His blood. 23. Adam and Eve of Common Task and Destiny. And let us not overlook the fact that the woman received all of her blessing from Adam, that all of her dignity and honor resulted 46 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION from her relation to him and, furthermore, that her standing before God and in the physical universe was identical with that of her husband. If Adam was without condemnation before God, so was Eve. If he fell under the power of death, so did she. So too, we have Christ’s standing before God. If He is uncondemned, so are we as believers without any condemnation and we can never be brought under the power of sin and death unless Jesus sins and falls. God had created Adam in His own image and had created her out of a part of Adam’s body, but, when He blessed and commissioned them for their life work, He put them jointly in authority over all the inferior orders of creation. ‘They were together to subdue the world, as well as together to multiply and replenish it (Gen. 17:28). Here again is an exact picture of our relation to Jesus. We have all of our standing before God because of our relation to Him and are accepted in Him as the beloved One. As Adam was made in the image of God, so He who is the Last Adam is the “very image of the substance and the effulgence of the glory of God” (Heb. 1:3). And we His bride are transformed into His image, from glory to glory, until at last we shall be like Him, because “We shall see Him as He is’ (Jno. 3:2). Then, too, we, along with Jesus, are to subdue the earth to Him and in His blessing we have become joined to Christ in bringing other men under subjection to Jesus as our great husband and with Him are serving to the end that He may have a race of spiritual seed. And besides all this, the Father has put all authority into His hands so that He may rule over all and we are at last to reign with Him upon His throne as priests and kings unto God. Such an understanding of the church’s position and of our re- lation to Christ should give us a new sense of joy and peace. What love Eve must have had for Adam! What nearness to him she must have enjoyed! What intimate fellowship she must have had with him and what full participation in all his plans! In all his dignity and glory she shared alike with him. He was the Lord of the whole creation, but she was one with him in it~ all. No other creature was so near to Adam as was Eve, be-- cause no other was a part of himself and partaker of his nature. Likewise there is no other so close and so dear to Jesus as THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 47 is His church. How He does love her and how He does rejoice to make her happy! And as His bride how we should love Him and strive to promote His interests! He joyfully shares all with us. Indeed, when, as the Lord from Heaven, He shall take His seat on the everlasting throne to rule over a restored creation, He will do it in companionship with His bride, the church. And in all His coming glory she will hold the nearest and most glorious place. But there is also a present glory for us. We are Christ’s now and not just for the future. We are now members of His body (Eph. 5:30), He being the Head. The Church is now the tem- ple of the Holy Spirit—the dwelling place of God. We may now have gracious fellowship and converse with Jesus, and what a holy and devoted and separate and elevated life of good works all this present and future glory demands of us! How careful we should be to allow our affections to be given to no other! What care we should exercise that our daily life may be worthy of our high calling in Christ Jesus. 24. The Sabbath. The Sabbath idea has a great place in the word of God. On the seventh day God rested from all His work. He had completed all this great universe and ceased His work of construction. He was not however inactive for He had still to guide and govern His world. He blessed this day and thereby declared it to be an object of divine favor and made it a day of blessing to His creation. He also sanctified or de- clared it to be holy and set it apart for holy purposes. It was in- stituted in the interest of holiness. It is to be noted that this seventh day on which God rested was not the seventh but the first day of man’s life. The Eden Sabbath was the first day of human life. It was observed when there was no more creative work to do. And it could be celebrated only in the midst of an undefiled creation—a creation which was in no wise marred by sin. Now this Sabbath of God became a figure of the rest and final glory of completed redemption. We are told that there “remain- eth a rest (or Sabbath keeping) for the people of God.” The 48 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION people of God will rest from the exertions of life, from toil and weariness, from sin and sorrow and all their powers will be em- ployed in meditating upon the glories of God and in doing His will. In it then God condescended to become man’s archetype and exemplar. The Sabbath was not made for God. Jesus said “The Sabbath was made for man.” It is one of three things man brought out of Eden that was given before the fall—labour, marriage and the Sabbath. It was, therefore, made for man as man, for the first man, as the progenitor of all races and nations. It was made for him in Paradise as a fundamental law for his normal nature. It was before man sinned and in Eden was a companion with the tree of life. It was a promise of re- demption from the curse pronounced upon the earth. And hence Lamech who longed for the rest, or Sabbath keeping, named his son Noah, which means rest. It came before death and its sweet and everlasting rest will be shoreless and bottomless when death shall be no more. It commenced before man needed a mediator between himself and God, and it will be the eternal portion of the people of God when the mediatorial kingdom of Christ has been surrendered to the Father. That first Sabbath which God made for man then is the figure of our eternal Sab- bath of salvation where there will be no sin that can ever mar it as was the first. 25. Man’s First Home. One could not fail to see that there is some relation between the garden of Eden, man’s first home, and his last heavenly home. The garden or paradise was in Eden and in it were the river and tree of life and of death. It was a place of pleasantness. There was in it beauty and plenty and genuine sources of blessing. The streams of water out-flowing in four directions carried with them the Eden life to all the ends of the earth and are a prophecy that the whole earth is to have an Eden like beauty and pleasantness. Let us note: (1) The place of the tree of life and the tree of death (knowledge of good and evil). They stand here together and they still hold a place together in all the spheres of human life. Both life and death are everywhere. Through the results of the tree of death the blessings of the tree of life and the other good of this early THE SEVEN DAYS’ WORK 49 paradise were lost. But the word of grace teaches us how the sin stricken and dying world is to be restored to the Paradise of divine blessing. In his closing vision John the Revelator shows us this restored Paradise with only the tree of life and the water of life. The evil has all been cast out with the death which it brought and the new-made inhabitants are taking freely of its eternal pleasures. (2) The oft recurrence of the tree of life and water (river of life) in the Scripture. These two link to- gether the paradise of unfallen man with that of redeemed man, They were actual channels of life and blessing, but were also figures of salvation. When one was lost by sin only thetr promise of the Savior remained. After long preparation periods have passed looking toward that redemption (Ezekiel 47:1-12) re- produced the imagery of Eden, but adapted it to the need of fallen man. The stream is especially to heal and has its source from the mercy seat. Its trees are not different from the tree of life and furnished food and medicine. But it clearly refers to a future time. They may be referred to again when Jesus talks of Himself and the water of life and of the living water. But before the book of God closes these symbols are seen again in the vision of John on Patmos (Rev. 2:7; 22:1-2, 14, 19). Here the river is described as having its source from under the throne of God. This is the last place where this river is found. Here is stability. Its source can never be touched nor can its channel ever be interrupted. ‘Then there is the Lamb, and His presence shows that all this blessing rests upon an accomplished redemp- tion. Here again is the tree of life which perpetually produces that which is for food and healing. The river of Eden dividing into four directions suggests that it is obligated to carry the Eden blessing to all parts of the world. There is here a fit prophecy of the Gospel, spreading throughout the world, bringing healing and pardon, light and life, strength and guidance and enabling men everywhere to rejoice in hope. But here at the last we have the throne of God right in the center of the Paradise regained and from under that throne bubbling up the streams of the waters of life and on either side of it is the tree of life bearing perpetual food and healing for all the inhabitants. It is the antitype of the earthly garden of Eden. But its tree never 50 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION ceases to bloom, its fruit never ceases to ripen, the music of its stream as it flows never hushes and every ripple of it says, “Life, life, eternal life. It is the restoration of all things and those who are present and have a right to the tree of life are those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 22: 14; 7:9, 14).” CHAPTERGTV The Story of the Fall Questions and Themes For Study. (1) What description of Satan is given or implied in the whole story? (2) What did Satan promise Eve as a gain, if she would disobey God? 3:5, 22. (3) What four results followed the sin? 3:7, 8, 14-19. (4) What did God ask Adam and Eve? and what answer did each make? 3:9-13. (5) What methods and pur- pose of punishment for wrong doing are discovered here? 3:7-24. (6) What promises and provisions are made for man? 3:15, 21. (7) What are some of the traditions about the fall. 26. The Story. This story is so familiar that one is tempted to pass over it without discussion. But I am re- minded that our familiarity does not guarantee that we have understood all of its far-reaching significance. In truth our very knowledge of the facts of the narrative may have kept us from devoting any study to it. At any rate one is con- vinced from all that one reads in the way of discussion upon it that there are many foolish and erroneous notions about the story. Then, too, it is quite clear that but few students and writers have gotten much out of it that would remind one of Jesus and His redemptive work. And yet, this is the story of the initial conduct of this first human pair. They are for the first time acting upon their own initiative. One is keenly interested to know the incen- tives that will move them to action and to see what result will follow when they have acted. One would somehow ex- pect to find in connection with it some reference to the need of the Savior and some suggestion as to His redemptive work. This expectation is all the more natural by reason of the fact that we are studying a book (the Bible), the expressed purpose of which is to bring us a revelation of the Divine plan of human salvation. We would be justified in expect- ing that in this inaugural action, we would find some evi- dence of their need of redemption. Or we might look for 52 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION some suggestion or for some illustration of the way by which they are to be saved. We would not be surprised to find some expression of the saving or redemptive nature of God. Indeed we would be disappointed if we did not find it. All of this is found and more. 27. The Temptation and Fall. We are shown first of all how man came to sin and the consequent fall and need of salvation. Satan, the great enemy of both God and man, as- sailed the woman and the dialogue between the serpent and the woman so portrays the acts and motives involved in the fall that the youngest and most unlearned readers can fully understand them. The temptation appealed to the three most dangerous elements of our fleshly nature. The fruit was good for food, beautiful to look upon and would make her wise. It, therefore, appealed to the craving of appetite, aroused her aesthetic taste and stirred in her the desire for knowledge. Thus the temptation appealed to the lust of the flesh, the pride of the eye and the pride of life, all of which were in the temptation of Jesus. Like all temptations it gave promise of bettering her own condition. We would yield to none except for the hope of gaining social, financial, intellectual or other advantage. The first evil act was to call in question the word of God. That was an act of unbelief and was the cause of the fall. From then untilnow the world has been shut up in unbelief. This first pair broke faith with God and took the word of Satan instead of God’s. And having sinned wilfully by fol- lowing their own desires in the face of God’s command they were fully responsible for all of the far-reaching results that followed. Here lies the reason why man’s redemption is through belief. Believing takes us back to where we separated from God. 28. The Effects of the Fall. The terrible effects of the fall began at once to manifest themselves and were of two kinds. (1) Immediate and natural effects. They at once received a knowledge of good and evil and began to feel the power of an accusing conscience. This brought to our great first pair of human beings a sense of guilt and shame and left THE STORY OF THE FALL 53 them conscience-striken and terrified creatures. Their eyes were opened. But alas! what did they see? Their own sin! Nor did this sense of nakedness drive them to God, but away from Him. They felt a sense of alienation from God and discovered at once they were no longer fit to associate with God as they had formerly done. This sense of shame and remorse led them to hide themselves from the presence of God and caused them to attempt to remedy the loss they had sustained. Such is always the case with the sinner. He tries to cover up the sins he has committed. Such efforts are always a confession of guilt and are often the first evi- dence of a lapse of conduct. When Adam heard Jehovah coming “in the cool of the day” he was afraid and hid him- self, and said “I was naked” (3:8-10). He had already put upon himself the apron of fig leaves, but that covering did not satisfy his own conscience. This is what the conscience always does for us—first leads us to try to remedy or cover up the results of our sins and then, in the consciousness of haviug failed, drives us in terror away from the presence ot God. But the soul thus separated from God becomes cor- rupt. This is spiritual death and is the natural result of sin. (2) Judicial and future effects. But there were other effects of their sin besides their accusing consciences and the sudden change in their conduct. God came down to judgment and pronounced a judicial sentence that affected the serpent, the man and the woman, and the earth. Satan would fiually be destroyed. Sorrow and pain and death were introduced and all of their posterity fell under the curse. [ven in our day every pain of our bodies, every necessary drudgery or hardship, every earthly disorder, such as storm or flood or earth-quake, and every grim hour of death is a fresh declara- tion of the awful tragedy of Adam’s fall. 29. Man’s Utter Helplessness. In all this we see that man has lost his dominion, his dignity, his innocence, his purity, his happiness and his peace. We are shown that he could not, himself, repair all of this loss. His efforts to cover up his nakedness and thereby establish a righteousness of his 54 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION own, were of no avail. Sin had to be put away, but he could not do it. Satan’s head needed to be bruised, but he was now the servant of satan arid could not do that. God’s claims upon him had to be met, but he could not meet them because he had willfully and knowingly trampled them under his feet. Death had to be abolished, but he could not abolish it, because he himself had fallen under its power. Thus we see how futile are all man’s efforts to recover what he. has lost in the fall. Yea, more, we should learn how presump- tuous it is for him to try to assist God in the far-reaching and stupendous work of redemption. That would be to say that He is not able to save. 30. What Man Did Not Know of God. But here is also found a great source of joy. We are not only given a revela- tion of man and his terrible plight, but we are also shown what God is. This is especially brought out by the fall of man. Adam had not learned to think of God except in terms of His hatred of sin. He knew only of God’s holiness: and power and wisdom. But there was in God vastly more than that. There was love and mercy and goodness and tender- ness and long-suffering. But these had never been displayed and they could not be displayed except in a world of sinners. Satan came with an awful purpose to ruin man, but the havoc he wrought in man furnished God an opportunity to reveal Himself as a redeeming God. The story, therefore, may be expected to show us some manifestation of grace. In this expectation we are not disappointed. For just as God had at first come to create—first all things, then man —so now as soon as satan had meddled with His creation. He came down again, and this time to show forth His sal- vation. His first word was one of interest in man, one of seeking. He called unto Adam saying “Where art thou?” (chapter 3:9). This question of Jehovah has furnished the basis for many a noble discussion of God’s effort to recover lost men. It revealed the double truth, first that man was lost and second that God had come to seek and find and re- cover him. It was at once a revelation of man’s sinfulness THE STORY OF THE FALL 55 and of God’s grace. It called these first sinners to confess their sins and invited them to cast themselves upon His mercy to consider their condition and let Him remedy it for them. 31. What God Revealed of Himself. It showed how God had come down to call fallen man out of his hiding place among the trees of the garden. It indicated that, though He had been gravely offended by him, He would restore man to a place of peace and fellowship with Jehovah, his Maker. Here is a seeking Savior on the lookout for a fallen and helpless sinner. It is an offended God searching out and showing mercy to an offending enemy and 1s, therefore, a manifesta- tion of that grace He was afterward to reveal to us in Jesus Christ. As has already been remarked Adam’s conscience had driven him away from God and into hiding among the trees, but the Divine revelation brought him out of that hiding and again put him in the presence of God. The knowledge of what he himself was, in his sin, terrified and shamed him, but the revelation of what God was, brought him peace and courage. Here was a true meeting-place for God and man. And they must certainly meet either in judgment or in grace. But in which way we shall meet Him depends upon our view of our- selves and of Him. For Adam to realize both what he was and what God was, furnished the only real basis of salvation. It was necessary for Adam to take his place as a sinner be- fore God could and would assume His place as Savior. And it is just at this point, where Adam confessed himself a sin- ner and God came down as Savior, that God begins to un- fold to man His wondrous plan of redemption. This plan as here revealed consists of three great elements of hope and blessing. (1) A promise of the destruction of Satan through the woman’s seed. (2) An act of providing for their present need in the clothing given them. (3) A provision for abiding mercy through the altar at the east side of the Garden. 32. Promise of the Redeemer. First, then, let us notice the promise which God made to Eve. It was unconditional and, therefore, mixed with no uncertainties. It was an uwun- . 96 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION dertaking which God had taken upon Himself and was as certain of fulfillment as the character of God was true. He laid the chief blame upon the serpent and said unto him, “Be- cause thou hast done this’, etc. (chapter 3:14). He made it a matter between Himself and Satan and declared that He - would destroy him. The serpent had been the cause of the calamity that had befallen the woman, and she in due time was, by means of her seed, to destroy him. In that she was also to be the instrument of human redemption. Her seed was to bruise the head of the serpent, meaning that it would destroy or kill him. On the other hand, the seed of - the serpent was to bruise the heel of the woman’s seed. He would cripple all of her seed. All of the descendants would be weakened by sin. It is the doctrine of human depravity, so sadly neglected in our day. It also hints as how satan should affect Jesus, her great Seed of salvation. This is the first promise of Christ and His redemptive work. It teaches most clearly that the victory over satan is to be through a conflict of suffering; that the victor is to be a human being; that this human victor must be the seed of the woman, and not of the man. There must be no human father. It 1s a promise that Jesus would come, born of a woman and that, through His suffering, He would conquer and destroy satan. All the rest of the Bible narrative is taken up in unfold- ing to us the plan and work of God in fulfilling this promise. The effects of satan’s injury of the descendants of Eve, are seen in all the history of individuals and of nations as re- corded there. The New Testament shows the nature of that conflict and how Jesus began to overthrow this great enemy of our race. It is significant too how the New ‘Testament statements about Jesus exactly meet the suggestions of this promise. John says of Him, “To this end was the Son of God manifested, that He might destroy (untie or undo) the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). It is also said of Him “Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself also took part in the same that through death THE STORY OF THE FALL 57 He might destroy (make barren or unfruitful or idle, or ut- terly annihilate) him that hath the power of death, that is the devil” (Heb. 2:14). Here is the explanation of the pur- pose of the coming of Jesus in the flesh. It was that He might destroy the devil and his works. And let us observe that it was to be accomplished through the suffering of death. It was the fulfilment of the promise made to Eve, that through the suffering of her seed, the devil would be brought to ruin, and on the cross, Jesus began the work that will ulti- mately accomplish the complete overthrow of satan. Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out; and I, if 1 be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” (Jno. 12:31-32). He will then cast satan into the bottomless pit. What a glorious promise for this “seed of the woman”! And what a glorious person is Jesus her Seed that the suffer- ing of His cross should be spoken of as only the bruising of His heel. ‘The cross with its agonies was said to be the most horrible of all suffering. Death in that way beggars all description. But Jesus was so great a person that He passed through it as but an incident of ordinary life. What a tran- scendent being was He that this terrible death on Calvary should be but the pricking of His heel; And more still that the effort put forth by satan in doing it would destroy satan; or that the conflict was so unequal that in making His death blow the devil would be able to do no more than make the most insignificant wound upon Jesus? This suggests the superiority of Jesus over satan and physical things and shows us how suitable He is for us to trust. The one Supreme Per- son, very God, is He and full of majesty and glory. How safe from the serpent are all who shelter under His protec- tion. Let it be remembered here that this promise was made to _ Eve and not Adam. ‘The prohibition concerning the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden had been given to Adam before Eve was created. She had learned it through him and could be tempted by satan to think that Adam had mis- understood God. Consequently, the serpent approached her 98 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION mS RT MaNGGIEAL LAS RACED SUARTSSL URNS Net ARES SRAUNL LUAU LITRE Eee ECS and raised a doubt as to whether God had really forbidden it. This is the old question always raised when we discuss world- liness. Men at once ask where God forbids it and decide it is not wrong to do anything unless it is named in the pro- hibitions made by the Lord. This is also the question of the inspiration of the Scripture. May not those who wrote it have been mistaken or has it not been changed before we got it? And hence is it in reality the word of God? ‘These are the questions of the skeptic. It is the old question of satan to Eve, “Did God say it.” Such a temptation could have had no effect upon Adam. He knew what God had said and could not have been in- fluenced by such a suggestion. The woman could truth- fully say “The serpent beguiled me,” Ch. 3:13. But Adam was compelled to admit that he had sinned wilfully and with- out excuse. It was his sin that introduced death into the world so that “death hath passed upon all men” (Rom. 5:12). Moreover, redemption could not come through him who had brought death. On the other hand, Eve having been de- ceived, had in her sin a mitigating cause which opened the way for an offer of mercy. To her, therefore, was given the promise of redemption. It was her seed and not the seed of the man that was to destroy the serpent. While this is not the place for the full development of the thought, we cannot overlook two truths taught here; first that the fall came through the man and not through the woman, and second that redemption came through the in- strumentality of the woman. ‘Through man came death ; through the woman is to come life. In taking upon Himself our humanity whereby He might effect our deliverance, it must be the seed of the woman, who is the expression of feebleness and dependence, and not that of man who re- presented natural headship or power. To fulfill this promise, Jesus must not, therefore, be be- gotten by any man. He must be born of virgin. This is precisely what was prophesied later, (Isa. 7:14), and what the New Testament teaches to have been true of Jesus. THE STORY OF THE FALL 59 (Lu. 1:26-35). And this is a very vital matter from every possible standpoint. It is necessary to the Deity of Jesus. For, if He was born of a human father, He was then like all the rest of us—full of weakness and sin and could not lay any claim to Deity. In that case He would have had an even start in life with all of the rest of us. The most that could be said of Him, then, would be that He was a great hero, whom we would do well to imitate. But we could not trust Him to save us. If, however, He was begotten of the Holy Spirit, he was very different from us because He had in Him the seeds of God. Here is His essential Deity and it is this possession of Deity that makes Him able to overthrow satan and save us. Just this makes it necessary for us to cling to the doctrine of the virgin birth of our Savior. Just this leads all, who try to destroy confidence in His Deity, to deny the doctrine of the virgin birth. ‘The two are inseparable, and both stand or fall together. If the virgin birth be not true, Jesus is not Very God, and salvation becomes a matter of self-recovery in human works and not of rescue through a deliverer from above. If on the other hand He was born of a woman and begotten of God without a human father as the scriptures teach (and I have no question that He was), then Eve be- came the mother, not only of all living, in the sense that she was the mother of the human race, but, through being the mother of Jesus, she became the mother of all those who through faith in Him shall possess eternal life. At this point we find an incident of great significance. Upon hearing the promise of God that the woman’s seed should destroy the serpent, Adam renamed his wife, calling her Eve, because she was to be the mother of all living. (Ch. 3:20). He had quickly anticipated the meaning of that promise and had begun to rejoice in the fact that his spouse was to be the mother of all those who should finally possess spiritual and eternal life. As a poor sinner, his faith saw divine mercy come down, although there was nothing in Him to draw it except his misery which appealed to the divine love. Bowing in silent submission to the sentence of death, 60 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION his lips speak of the grace which He sees inclosed in that sentence. How beautifully do we see manifested in Adam a faith which, while it left him still a poor sinner, except that he would yet be justified, not by his own works, but by the free grace of God which would be manifested in the Seed of the woman. ‘Their deliverance is not so much a restoration as a new creation. ‘The seed of the woman is to be a second Man—another and last Adam. He is to be a new head of a new race who are to be the “Sons of God” and who are to | be born “not of blood (naturally) nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:13). 33. Their Covering of Skins. This brings us to the con- sideration of God’s act of providing for their immediate needs © —ot removing the shame of their nakedness. He provided them with coats of skins for a covering. The Scriptures say “Unto Adam also and to his wife, did Jehovah God make coats of skin and clothed them” (Ch.3:21). It is especially noticeable that “also” ties this act on to what has preceded. Just a little while ago God had been pronouncing upon them the fearful consequences of their sin, showing how it affected, not only themselves, but their posterity and even the physical universe. He had also made them a promise of redemption through Christ the Seed of the woman. But they had present — needs. Their sin had brought them consciousnes of their shame. They had tried with their own hands to remedy the situation, but found themselves still naked. God’s mercy — did not leave them in this helpless plight. He made them clothes of the skins of animals ,and covered them so that without fear or shame, they could appear in His holy pres- ence. And why this universal longing for clothing on the part of human beings. Adam and Eve recognized their need of it and God provided it. Strange to say, man is the only crea- ture that needs to be artificially clothed (or covered). All other animal life produces its own clothing from within—out of its own nature. Perhaps Adam and Eve were so clothed before the fall. Through the fall they probably lost their EE — THE STORY OF THE FALL 61 halo or celestial clothing from within and hence they found themselves naked. On the mount of Transfiguration Jesus seems to have been clothed with a halo from within Himself and the ultimate glory of the redeemed may issue in a new clothing from within when they have the glorified bodies of the resurrection. This may be the method of fulfilling that wonderful promise to the wife of the Lamb. “It was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints” (Rev. 19:8): It is also interesting to know that in the Old Testament, the word for atonement means “to cover up.” Hence Adam and his wife in seeking to find covering were seeking “atone- ment.” And when God provided them with a covering He was providing an “atonement’—an expiation or putting away of sin. In the fig-leaf aprons they had employed all of their resources and had accomplished nothing but to demonstrate their helplessness. But their helplessness made an_ occasion for learning the tender mercy of God. God both made and applied to these sinners the covering or atonement which they needed. So it will ever be, God and not ourselves must pro- vide our atonement. He must also apply it and make it ef- fective in each case. He only can put upon us this great blessing. This is all the more striking when considered in the light of the way in which the provision was made. In it we have a figure or type of the righteousness which God has for us in Christ. It fully shows forth the sacrificial element. It required the sacrifice of innocent animals before the coats could be made and their covering is, therefore, based upon blood. In this God maintained the sentence of death and at the same time removed man’s shame and the consequences of his sin. This is the first time that innocent blood was shed in order to provide a covering for a sinner. It is the first in- stance where the death of another was substituted for that of a sinner and was the means of preparing the sinner to stand before God. It is a type or illustration of the substitution- 62 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION ary death of Jesus for the lost and of how, by the shedding of His blood, we are prepared to appear in peace before God. Now, as has been indicated, “also” links this beautiful type to the promise of deliverance through the seed of the woman. He, who is to be the Redeemer, is to be the slain one, who is substituted for our atonement. One who is both human and divine is to suffer for us and we are to be covered from Him. We are to be clothed in the Divine-human righteous- ness, which was wrought out through the incarnation of Jesus Christ. There are three forms of righteousness de- scribed in the Scriptures: (1) Divine Righteousness, (2) Hu- man righteousness as in Adam before the Fall, (3) Divine- human righteousness in Christ Jesus. This last is called “a righteousness of ,God” and is the theme of the book of Ro- mans. Legalists in attempting to rescue themselves through keeping the law, know nothing of this Divine-human right- eousness which became ours through Christ’s death on the cross. It is far better than that which Adam had before the fall, or that which we would have, if we could attain to per- fect morality in the law. These could be human only while there is complete Divine and human righteousness combined. Here is where we gain more in redemption than Adam lost in the fall. His righteousness could be destroyed. Ours being also divine as well as human, can not. In glory our bodies will also have been redeemed and we will be like Jesus “body, soul and spirit”. Then we will be clothed from within like He was on the “Holy Mount” (Mk. 9:2-8, Lu. 9:29). Moreover, this clothing of these sinners furnishes a fitting climax of a series of matters that are always present in our salvation in Christ. First, God made a promise of life through the seed of the woman, who was to overcome the work of satan. Second, Adam seems to have accepted that promise and by faith to have rejoiced in it. For as soon as the prom- ise came, he changed the name of his wife to Eve because she was to be “the mother of all living.” In this he grasped the idea of God’s redemption through Christ and changed her name because she was not merely the mother of all the THE STORY OF THE FALL 63 descendants of Adam, but, in Christ her Seed, was also the mother of all those who in Christ should possess eternal life. Third, there follows the covering with the skins which they perhaps took from the first animals ever slain. In all this we have in regular order: (1) The promise of God. (2) Man’s acceptance of it by faith. (3) The response of God in clothing him which always follows upon man’s acceptance of God’’s promise of life in Jesus. Several other matters should also be noted concerning this incident. First of all, there was covering provided for both Adam and Eve. That is to say that the provision was suf- ficient for the whole of the then existing race. In this we find a fit parallel to the atoning work of Christ, who made a propitiation for the “sins of the whole world” (I Jno. 2:2). There is ample salvation for all men. In the next place, let us remember that this provision was made in the face of the fact that Adam and Eve had already done all they could to cover themselves. God discarded what they had prepared and made other garments satisfactory to Himself. For by hiding from God they had confessed that their aprons of fig leaves were not even satisfactory to them, sinful as they were. They certainly would not, then, please a Holy God. In all this we see the real difference between genuine Christianity and mere human religion; between that salva- tion wrought out of God and the failure wrought out by human works. Christianity has for its foundation the fact that one has been clothed upon, while human form of religion rests upon the sense of the lack of being clothed—the sense of nakedness. What a Christian does in the way of religion or good works is all because he is perfectly clothed upon by the Lord, while what a mere religionist does is all in the effort and hope that he may be clothed. But God discarded Adam’s apron of fig-leaves. It could not screen him from the eyes of God It was ineffectual because man and not God had provided for it. It was as a righteousness rested upon the works of sin-stained hands. This is a warning to 64 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION all those who are resting their hope of eternal life upon their own righteouness instead of in the grace of God and in the righteousness He offers us in Christ Jesus. But the coats provided by Jehovah were perfect and those who were clothed in them were perfectly clothed. ‘I‘hese coats were founded on blood even as God’s righteousness is now set forth in the cross of Christ. After Adam stood clothed in this coat of skins he could no longer say “I was naked and afraid”. Nor was there any further occasion for him to hide himself from God. So also the sinner may feel perfectly at rest when, by faith, he knows that he is clothed upon by the righteousness of God. Here is the joy and com- fort of our hearts. They may be at perfect rest, knowing that, when we appear before God, we are to be clad in a robe which He Himself has provided. This again admonishes all of us not to rest upon our own deeds, seeing that God will not accept anything short of the perfection which He alone can supply. 34. The Altar of Justice and Mercy. In the next and last place, we must give attention to the Divine provision of mercy which is seen here. Fallen man must not be allowed to eat of the fruit of the tree of life. For to eat of it in his fallen state, would bring upon him endless wretchedness. It would mean to confirm him to live forever in his fallen con- dition. It would remove from him the possibility of redemp- tion and would put him out of reach of the glory of the resurrection. In putting him out of the garden, therefore, God was showing Him great mercy. It was not an act of punishment for sin, but an act of protection from eternal harm. It left open an opportunity for him to be redeemed from the ruin of sin that had come upon him. And besides all this, it put him out in a world that, everywhere, exhibited the results of his sin and showed him the need of Divine assistance. It thereby made him the more easily accept God’s way of life. Now as soon as they were put out, God set up at the east side of the garden, an altar of justice and mercy. The cher- THE STORY OF THE FALL 65 ubim and fiery presence (chapter 3:24) are the same as those which He later instructed Moses to use in connection with the altar of mercy and grace on the ark of the covenant in the Tabernacle oe 25: 18-22). There the two cherubim were made one on either end of the mercy seat, facing each other and made of one piece with the mercy seat itself. It was the place where God met Moses to make known His will— the place where He met and blessed sinners who would ap- proach Him through the blood of sacrifice made for sin. It would be difficult to separate these several parts. They are all of one piece so that to destroy one is also to destroy the other. It is the meeting of mercy and justice. Here “Truth and mercy must meet together” and “righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psa. 85:10). It is a promise by which God can be both just and the justifier of those who trust in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). Probably the cherubim are sym- bols of justice which always scrutinizes mercy to see that it does not violate God’s justice. There can be no mercy ex- tended until God is first declared just in justifying the sinner. The offering demanded here at the gate of the garden was a sin offering. It had to be burned on the outside of the garden and its blood (poured out life) placed upon the mercy seat to make atonement for sin. This blood quenched the fire-consuming wrath of God and the cherubim of justice gaze forever upon that sacrificial life or blood poured out for sin and not upon the sinner. It opens up the way to the tree of life by way of justification through judgment unto death. It was here, then, that all offerings for sin were to be pre- sented and where men were approvingly accepted or were rejected by the Lord. This was the scene of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel who came to God with their offerings. Nor did God drive Cain away until He had remonstrated with him and tried to induce him to offer a sacrifice that He could accept. In this He showed that He desired to show mercy and not to destroy. His appeal was for Cain to accept the divine condition so that He could justify him and at the same time maintain His own justice and honor by acting in harmony with His word. 66 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION The flaming sword was not, therefore, for the purpose of shutting up the way of the tree of life, to prevent men from coming to it, but to open up to sinful man a merciful way back to that tree. The proper translation of the thought is that of Jamison, Fausset and Brown—that God dwelt there “to keep open the way of the tree of life”. True, Adam had been cut off from eating the fruit of this blessed tree, but now there was opened up a way by which he might come back to it. through the intervention of mercy. He could come back by the mercy seat covered with sacrifice for sin and par-.. take of this tree and live forever in a justified and forgiven state instead of in a sinful state. Here is the blessed hope of every sinner in coming to God in Christ. God imparts to us the Divine-human righteousness of Jesus and we are for- ever accepted by Him. This, then, is the chief point of it all, that as soon as man had sinned,. grace intervened to save him. First, there was a promise of a redeemer who would destroy the works of the devil. Second, there was an acceptance on the part of man who by the faith caught a glimpse of that Redeemer. Third, there was provided clothing for them that symbolized the right- eousness of Christ. Fourth, there was erected a mercy seat to show them how they might approach God and be saved. They had been shut off from the tree of life by the old way, but now they had access to it by “a new and living way” (Heb. 10:20). This place at the east side of the garden con- tinued to the time of the flood to be the place where men came with their sacrifices to worship God and where they received permission to partake of the fruit of the tree of life and live forever, not with the curse, but with the blessing of God resting upon them. And all this was provided on the same day that man sinned. There has, therefore, never been a single day since man first sinned that there has not been open to him a way of justification and forgiveness and eternal life. 35. Some Names of God. At this point it will be well for — us to concern ourselves a little further with the different THE STORY OF THE FALL 67 names of God found in this and the former chapters and to learn something of their bearing upon the subject of our study. In the first chapter we find the name of God which means in its simplest form, a great strong being. But in the second chapter where the creation of man is especially described and in chapter three where the need and plan of redemption begin to be revealed there is a change to Jehovah God. But the name Jehovah does not occur until man appears upon the scene. Now, this name denotes a self-existing God, who reveals Himself as Redeemer. It suggests that He was self-sufficient, uncaused and eternal. It furthermore de- scribes Him as one who reveals Himself to intelligent crea- tures and especially reveals Himself in the capacity of Savior or Redeemer. It is the Old Testament name for God when He is thought of or acts in the way similar to what Jesus does for us in our redemption. Under this name, therefore, He made with them His covenants of mercy and faithfully kept them. ‘This is the name He assumes when He is act- ing in relation with man, whether as Creator, Redeemer or Judge. It is under this name that man is created and given his dominion over the physical universe. This suggests that in the very creation of man there was a redemptive purpose. Redemption was not an after thought with God but a deliberate plan of creation. The fall had been anticipated and we were chosen in Christ “before the founda- tion of the world” (Eph. 1:4). This is the highest possible view and explanation of the universe and of man. Such an explanation alone can justify in our minds God’s permission of sin and sorrow in the world. With such an understanding we can as previously indicated, consider the creation of the world as the creation of a stage of action upon which God might make a display of His redeeming love and grace. This is putting the cross in the center and regarding it as the very framework of all creation. It is making redemption a deliberative plan and purpose on the part of God and not an accident resulting from an unexpected incident in the life of man. 68 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION Moreover, it was under this name, Jehovah (redeemer) that God came to the fallen pair in the garden as they hid them- selves in the trees. Under this name He there set up judge- ment and pronounced the curse upon the serpent and also offered the mercy and made the promises discussed in this chapter. Here then, we find that it was in His redeeming capacity that God created man; that He began to deal with him after he had sinned; that He cursed man’s enemy, the serpent; that He made His promises and provisions after the fall and curse. It is just as in and through Jesus the Savior that satan our great enemy is to be finally judged and de- stroyed and we are to be saved. All of God’s dealings with man are, therefore, in connection with His redemptive nature and plan. Nor is it difficult to show that this use of His name is consistently adhered to in all the Scriptures. A few illustra- tions will suffice. “And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him; and Jehovah shut him in” (Gen. 7:16). Here God, the one of all power, was going to destroy the world, but Jehovah the Redeemer took care of and sealed up in safety Noah whom He was able to save from the power and destruction of the flood. “That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that Jehovah saveth: (I Sam. 17:46-47). All the earth was to recognize God, the one of power and might, but Israel was to recog- nize Him as Jehovah, the Savior. “Jehosaphat cried out. Jehovah helped him and God moved them to depart from him” (II Chron. 18:31). Jehovah, the Savior, took care of his poor erring servant, while God acted upon the hearts of the Syrian enemies. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 we have an illus- tration of Jehovah making covenants with His prophet. Here He makes what He calls the New Covenant. It is an unconditional covenant, Jehovah on His own account under- taking to carry out all the promises stated in it. In the New Testament the New Covenant is shown to be based upon the saving blood of Jesus. So that here again Jehovah is THE STORY OF THE FALL 69 the name referring to God in His redeeming capacity and especially through His death and suffering. Here it will be well for the reader to pause and see how fully we have now been admitted into the great redemptive plan of God. We should make sure that we have received the blessing which as Redeemer He seems so ready to grant us. We should ask ourselves whether we are trusting Jesus the Seed of the woman who came to overthrow the devil. Do we consciously and in faith accept the cover of right- eousness which He wrought out through His death and offers to us? Have we gone by the altar of mercy which He has provided and presented to God the sacrifice of Jesus as our plea? Have we gone in through the New and living way which He opened up for us and thereby gained access to the blessings of the tree of life (Rev. 2:7)? CHAPTER V. The Story of Cain and Abel Questions and Themes for Study. (1) What did Cain and Abel each offer to God? 4:1-5. (2) What are the facts and lessons of the conference between Cain and Abel and between Cain and God? 4:6-15. (3) What elements of civilzation did Cain’s descendants develop? 4:16-22. (4) What description is given of a religious life and with what result was it lived? 5:21-24. (5) What truths are taught in the genealogies of Cain and of Seth (4:16-5:32)? Study especially the meanng of each name. In these stories we come to a second stage in these progressive types. We take up a new point of view, which furnishes a sort of climax to the former foregleams of the Messiah and at the same time opens up the way for the discussion of the flood which is to come later. 36. First Sons of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve are now fallen and are outside of the garden surrounded by all the phys- ical evidences of the curse. ‘There rests upon them the know- ledge that their bodies must return to the dust out of which they were formed. They are trying to fulfill their commission to sub- due the earth and are suffering the burdens of that toil which their sin had brought upon them. The ground was no longer voluntarily yielding to them a bounteous support, but had begun to yield thorns and thistles, thereby making it necessary for them to earn their bread by the sweat of their faces. Here were also born unto them their children, concerning two of whom we are to study in this chapter. Nothing is told us of their childhood and youth. Nothing is given us as to their dispositions or service ex- cept the mere statement as to the nature of their ‘occupations. They had been reared in the well-ordered religious home of Adam who had received the promise of the Messiah and had been clothed upon by the symbolical righteousness of God in Christ. They had been taught how to worship and had determined to live re- THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 71 ligious lives. Our story is particularly concerned with their worship and its significance. 37. Two Lives Contrasted. They furnished us with a story of two lives contrasted with one another. The spirit and con- duct which are revealed in these two lives are seen everywhere, whether in many individuals or in nations. It is the beginning of the fulfilment of the divine prophecy concerning the enmity between the seed of the woman and the séed of the serpent. It is the story of every generation and of all lands from then until now. For in every generation the two principles involved have their representatives among men and the conflicts and victories are in principle constantly repeated. This makes the story of the conduct of these two first-born of Adam of great interest and value to all the future. 38. The Story Related to Jesus. Above all, the story con- cerns Him whom in the fullest sense we may call “The Seed of the woman.” ‘The death of Abel is a matter of deep perplexity and can be understood only in the light of the conflict between the seed of satan and of the woman. ‘The serpent is to bruise the heel of her seed before her seed is to bruise his head. This applies to Christ as the conqueror of man’s foe. In Abel’s death we have a type of the death of Christ—His crucifixion. He died at the hand of His brethren and His blood speaks bet- ~~ ter things than the blood of Abel (Heb. 12:24). In Cain there _is a picture of the Jews, Christ’s brethren after the flesh by whose hand He died. He like they ignored the breach that sin had caused between man and his creator. Like him the Pharisees were self-righteous legalists who were ignorant of God and His grace. They went about to establish their own right- eousness and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:3). So also the self-righteous heart of Cain resented the testimony of man’s guilt and of God’s provision for it which was seen in God’s acceptance of Abel’s offering. God graciously remonstrates with Cain as He did with the Jews. But Abel is slain just as was Jesus, and Cain like the Jews went out to be forever a fugitive and a vagabond upon the earth. Here is 72 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION in many ways the saddest story of all the history of the Hebrew race. They are homeless and scattered among other people for the most part to be hated by them. Taking another and more general view of the lessons here sug- gested, it may be said concerning them that they represent two types of religious ideas or ideals that are everywhere in the Scrip- ture shown in contrast. ‘They set forth, for all time, the fun- damental elements of true and false religion and point out the attitude of God toward each system. They furnished us with a fair example of a religious man of the world and of a genuine man of faith. 39. Nature and Environment the Same. We must be care- ful not to think that the difference was one of nature or environ- ment. ‘They each ‘had the same fallen nature. ‘They were the sons of fallen Adam and like him both were depraved and lost in sin. They had the same parents and therefore were alike in nature. They were both a part of the corrupt stream of ruined and guilty humanity that emanated from Adam who had lost his innocence and in them “there was no difference.” ‘Then too, they were reared in the same home and were the recipients of the same parental instruction and care. Moreover, they were surrounded by the same environment. ‘Their attitude toward God and His attitude toward them and their sacrifices—accept- ing one and rejecting the other—was not based upon their nature or because one had been influenced by a better environment than the other. 40. Both Were Religious. It should also be said that it was not because Cain was not truly religous that he was rejected. Nor was it because Abel was religious that God accepted him and his sacrifice. So far as there is any hint in the Scripture nar- rative they were both alike of a deeply religious spirit. If merely being religious would satisfy God, it would be as safe to be a Mohammedan as Christian. Moreover the question of sincerity was not involved. Both of them knew exactly where to come to worship—at the east side of the garden where God had erected the altar of mercy. And both of them so far as there is any THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 73 suggestion in the Scripture were perfectly sincere in their wor- ship—both desiring to receive the divine approbation. Here then is abundant warning to those who think that it matters nothing about our service to God just so we are sincere. This story proclaims aloud the fact that our sincerity is not the basis upon which God receives and blesses us. We must not only be con- scientious in our worship, but must worship according to God’s way and will. 41. Sacrifices Differed. What then made the great dif- ference in these men? It was not in them or their nature or their sincerity. There was just one point of difference. It was in their sacrifice. One of them “brought of the fruit of the ground” (chapter 4:3), while the other “brought of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof” (chapter 4:4). The writer of the book of Hebrews says of them “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God bearing witness to his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh’ (Heb. 11:4). Here we see that it was not a question of the men but of their sacrifices. In the matter of our worship, then, it is not the one who makes the offering but the thing offered that is of first importance. Abel made “a more excellent sacrifice’ and God bore “witness to his gifts’. It is just this that indicates the sinners’s standing before God. He must bring a sacrifice that will be acceptable to God before he himself can be accepted. 42. Cain’s Offering. Since, then, this is of such importance, let us inquire into the difference in their sacrifices. Cain brought of “the fruit of the ground”, while Abel brought of “‘the first- lings of his flock and of the fat thereof”. Here is a difference of the very greatest importance. The offering of Cain was the product on fruit of a sin-cursed earth. And what is worse is was the result of the labor of sinful human hands.~ Being a sinner Cain rested under the penalty of death. Death there- fore, stood between him and God, but his offering made no rec- ognition of this fact. He did not offer a sacrifice that would represent the giving of a life instead of his own. There was no 74. GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION blood to cover and cleanse away his sin. Nor was there any- thing to indicate that he had any sense of the necessity of some life being given up that he might have a way of approach to God. He is an illustration of the unpardoned sinner coming into the | presence of God with nothing to commend him except his own ' works. He shows how all such shall forever be rejected. - It is not works of good, but death that is required. Jesus went about doing good, but that did not save and would not have saved, if he had lived on and kept it up until now and forever. He had to die to save. Death is the divine imperative. ‘Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” 43. Abel’s Offering. On the other hand, Abel did not bring the labor of his own hands which sin had necessitated and stained, but the substitute of a stainless offering. He recognized that he was a sinner and that no work of his own would deliver him from death and judgment and secure for him life and blessing. He, therefore, brought as his offering a firstling of the flock, ever afterward used as a representative of Him who was the ‘first-born among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). It was an innocent victim which was slain in sacrifice. And how did he make this sacrifice of blood? In the Scripture already quoted it is said “By faith Abel made a more excellent sacrifice”. It was “by faith’ that he was enabled to enter into the truth that a sinner could place the death of another between himself and the consequence of his sins and that thereby he might escape death. ‘By faith’ he saw that by offering a spotless victim to God (and the fat indicated its good condition) he could meet both the claims of a holy God, and his own needs as a guilty sinner. Such a faith, making such a sacrifice points to a belief in the cross and illustrates its power as being alone sufficient to satisfy the needs of a sinner and to glorify God. 44, Abel’s Faith Sees Jesus. In this “more excellent sacri- ficé” Abel came to a full understanding of God’s view of sin and salvation.. He accepted his own rightful place as a sinner and also consented for God to assume His proper position as Savior and do His saving work. As a convicted sinner he felt that THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 75 death and judgment were before him as the just rewards for his sins and looked to a suffering and dying Savior to deliver him. As a believer he saw Christ as God’s ransom on the cross. He saw the sacrifice of that cross remove from him the prospect of death and of judgment and put in their place life and glory eternal. Such a faith will never attempt to cover up or set aside the truth about one’s own depraved and condemned condition. It will cause one to confess himself worthy of death and at the same time will trust in a substitute for deliverance. But Christ-is the only real and perfect and divinely accept- able substitute. His death comes in between man and his sins and the holiness of God. He is substituted as a ransom for the sinner and bears all the suffering and death deserved by the sinner. He can, therefore, become his surety against the con- sequences of his sins. Faith sees in Jesus’ death the perfect sacrifice for sin and accepts from God a peace and joy which the world can neither give nor take away. Such a faith puts us in the immediate possession of the blessings and fellowship of God. Paul puts it “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). Abel’s was such a faith that it saw in Christ his offering and presented Him to God as such. And all those who still shelter under the atoning death of that great Victim will have God to attest His value on their behalf by the putting away of their sins and by the establishment of their peace with God. 45. Offering and Offerer One Before God. We should not overlook the fact that it was not primarily Abel, but his offering, that God accepted. ‘The Scripture says “God testified of his gifts” and that it was from his offering that he obtained the witness that he was righteous. This is a matter of vast significance. From it we learn that God identified Abel with the offering he brought. It is of importance in that it teaches us that it is not the person of the man who makes the offering that is of supreme consequence, but the character of the offer- ing that he brings. No matter how sinful the man, we may have assurance, if we keep steadily in mind the fact that it 76 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION was not Abel but his sacrifice to which God bore testimony and that he was accepted because of it. This is a most prec- ious teaching—we are put on a par with our offering. If it is accepted of God, we are also accepted with it. Here is the sinner’s hope. He comes to God and presents Jesus as his sacrifice and pleads for the favor of God and is accepted along with Jesus. We are then not to look inward to see if we are acceptable to God, but we are to behold Christ—how accept- able He is—and be sure that we rest our hopes wholly upon Him. In coming to God in His name we are completely iden- tified with Him and our destiny is therefore linked up with His. We are bound up in the same bundle of life with Christ and hope and boast in Him all the day long. Our future and His are to be the same. No question can be raised against the very weakest believer unless it is also first raised against Jesus, the offering upon which the believer rests. God has over and over again borne witness to Jesus our gift that He is satisfactory and by presenting Him as our claim we may have the witness that in Him we are righteous. Our confi- dence then is not in ourselves, but in Jesus who has done all things for us and has become all things to us. ‘This is the basis of all our joy and hope, that as long as God is pleased with Christ we are safe and are truly “accepted in the Be- loved’? (Eph. 1:6). 46. Cain’s Anger and Rejection. ‘I‘here is another word about Cain here. He became angry (apparently with God) because his sacrifice was not accepted. This spirit compares — well with what the New Testament calls the sinner’s “enmity to God” (Rom. 8:7). He contended for his own way as against God’s way. He was unwilling to be put in the attitude of confessing himself to be a sinner, but God was loath to let Cain go and, therefore, came down and reasoned with him— probably better say He plead with him. He urged him say- ing “If thou doest well (or as the Septuagint correctly reads — ‘If thou offer correctly’) shalt thou not be accepted?” And again he said “If thou doest not well sin lieth at the door” (chapter 4:7). Here God is both warning him and making a THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 77 On plea to him. The phase “sin lieth at the door’ means “a sin offering is near at hand.” God then, is pointing out to Cain that there is available to him an offering which will be accepted and is urging him yet to make such offering. Putting it in order words, God yearned over Cain desiring to receive him and re- fused to cast him off until after He had done all He could to induce him to accede to the divine will and present an offering with which he himself could be received. When Cain stead- fastly refused to give heed to the word of God he was cast off from His presence. In all this God shows how He will never finally reject a sinner until that sinner knowingly and wilfully refuses God’s way. There is still open to him an approach to the favor of God, if he has not refused to accept Jesus the only sacrifice acceptable to God and offer Him as his sin offering. It also shows that when He utterly fails to get a man to accept the divine way He casts that man off forever. God will allow no substitutes. We must accept His plan or none. He has pro- vided in Jesus a sin offering that is sufficient for all. “But there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12). So then, it is an alterna- tive we cannot escape—trust Jesus or be lost. “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which shall devour the adversaries” (Heb. 10:26-7). More- over, this plan as here illustrated provides not only a way of salvation, but also for an appeal to the unsaved. It first amply provides for the needs of all and then diligently seeeks to save all. For Jesus “came to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lu. 19:10). 47. Cain Persecutes Abel. Here we should notice how these two religionists bore themselves toward each other. As soon as Cain refused to meet God’s condition of salvation and was rejected he began to manifest the corrupt fruit of his sinful nature. Although Abel had had nothing to do with rejection, Cain began to persecute him and finally murdered him. In this persecution of a worshiper he manifested the 78 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION spirit and fruit of all false religion. That justification and peace with God which is based upon faith in a sacrifice at- — tributes all merit to God and to Jesus the Savior and there- — fore declares man to be without any merit whatsoever. It — recognizes that our salvation is both wrought out and applied — by the hand of God. Just this is what Cain resented. Just this was the offense for which he slew his brother. It is the , offense of the cross then and always (I Cor. 1:23; Gal 5:11). © These first recorded instances of human worship and the con- sequent attitude of Cain toward Abel manifest the same ele- ments that always and everywhere show themselves in religions. From that day forward false religionists have always perse- — cuted the true. And in proportion as a religious system is false, in that proportion will its devotees manifest hatred and in- ~ tolerance toward those of other religions. Some religionists such as the Mohammedans pray for their god to destroy all who do not accept their religion. Even among Christians those who have in their worship most of human works and most of worldly formality are most apt to hate others who dis- agree with them and to be disregardful of their feelings. On the other hand the true Christian spirit is tolerant of all. The New ‘Testament gives us positive instructions not to persecute others. Ours is a duty to love and pity and to try to assist others to the better way. From this point of view one could do some valuable study in the field of comparative religions. — We could raise such questions as what religions have produced a people prone to persecute others? Or what sects of Christ- ianity have done most to injure others who did not agree with them. We could inquire into the nature of the false elements of the systems that have led to such persecutions. Just here it is” important to remember that God set a mark on Cain and in-| dicated that He would punish any who harmed him. God will not put in our hands the punishment of those who refuse His way of salvation. Vengeance belongs to God and we must not punish those who refuse to be religious. | 48. Cain and This Present World. But Cain showed another result of false worship. After killing his brother and hearing = — SS a ee aw + ee THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 79 the judgement of God pronounced upon him, he went out with his family from the presence of Jehovah. In reality he was a vagabond in the earth with the Divine displeasure resting upon him. But he set about trying to make the cursed and fallen earth a satisfactory place in which to live. He went out of the presence of God to lose himself in the world and its pursuits. He proposed to decorate this world and in his own sight to become respectable. Having rejected God’s way of cleansing he undertook to improve man as he was. But it is the progress of a race away from God. ‘They possess themselves of the earth and prosper in the land of vagabond- age. But the race gets no better. Indeed it gets constantly worse and ends with Lamech whose name speaks of human strength and in’ whom self-will and impenitent abuse of God’s long-suffering reach their height. He was a polygamist and a would-be-murderer and showed that in such a race the latter end is worse than the first. Just here lies the fundamental difference in the plan of re- demption which God had now begun to reveal to men and the religious systems which men have made. God's plan is for man to be cleansed and renewed in heart and life while man aims at nothing but the cultivation of what there is in man. God would lay new foundations of character and life, while man merely tries to build upon what is already there. One is a salvation by grace and regeneration. The other seeks to have by culture and the arts of civilization. One links us up with God and eternity. The other would try to so ‘adorn and beautify this world and so fill it with pleasure and comforts that men would become satisfied to live in separation from God. One seeks and finds a refuge in God Himself, the other builds a city on earth. Here is the secret of the great civilizations that have been erected by certain great heath- en and wicked people. It was the result of their highest thought and effort. Nor is it strange that Cain overlooked the fact that the earth he had set about to enjoy was under the curse of God and especially that it was cursed with the innocent blood of his brother. And, if any of us would set our affec- 80 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION tions upon this world, let us remember that it is forever stained by the blood of Jesus which was spilled upon it by wicked and murderous hands. And, moreover, the reason they slew Him was the same as that for which Cain slew his brother— because of religious hatred and jealousy. Our faith should look beyond all the glitter and glory of this world which will be utterly destroyed, and see the cross of Christ. We must not live just for this life, but must set our affections on things above where Christ is and live in expectancy of the great life beyond (Col. 3:1-2). This is a vital difference in the religion of this world and its devotees and that of faith. The former does not look be- yond this life. But the man of faith in Christ sees in God the dispenser of a, more real and genuine life than this. He sees in Him the Giver of a life that is beyond the power of being either forfeited or lost. He sees in Christ a risen one who is victorious over all that could in any way harm us or be against us. By His death Jesus abolished death for us and by His resurrection He has introduced us into the sphere into which He has risen. He is no longer where satan can touch Him and we also look for a life beyond his power. 49. The Resurrected Life. Here let us see whether these stories furnish us with any evidence of the resurrection and of this true view of the religious life of faith. Abel has been slain and only Cain and his family survive. Is that which is of God when downtrodden made extinct upon the earth? Or will it rise again? Seth was born unto Adam and was so named be- cause God had appointed him instead of Abel whom Cain slew (Gen. 4:25). In him, therefore, we have the resurrection of the spirit and nature of Abel and through him the perpetuation of the worship for which he died. As set forth above Abel represents the sacrifice of Christ. But Seth illustrates the risen Christ life. Abel had died and Cain lived and flourished and though: separated from God was not permitted to be killed. This pros- perity continued to the seventh generation, ending in Lamech whose name meant human strength and in all of them we see how THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 81 “that which is born of the flesh is flesh” (Jno. 3:6). But now we come to a new beginning. For other and different fruit we find another tree. Seth is appointed of God as a seed “in the place of Abel whom Cain slew.” This is a new beginning for Abel. It is the resurrection principle. There was born unto Seth Enos, and from that time “men began to call upon the name of the Lord” (chapter 4:26). The name Enos means “frail” and shows again the spirit of those who “worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3). Here is the true worship of Abel who came in his weakness and rested upon the strength of another—the power of God whom his weakness needed. And all who are willing to bear that title of frailty may learn the mercies of a covenant- keeping God. They may live the new Christ-life and have the dynamic power of Christ to assist them now and to give them triumph in death. 50. Two Types. Here, then, are the two types side by side. The Cain line represents the carnal world and produces men who are great in the eyes of the world. These all perished in the flood, showing thereby how great civilizations utterly fail to save and perpetuate the race. The Seth line demonstrated the Christ-life in the world. ‘There is no world-renown in it. All that we know of Seth is set forth in the words “and he died.” The greatest fact that a Christian man can demonstrate is that of death—death in Christ and death to the world. He may live a life of sacrifice that will manifest the spirit of Calvary. He should live a life so above the base and unworthy things of the world and manifest a spirit so different from that of the world as to put all men on notice that he has hopes of a life higher than that which we have here. This life and its outcome is beautifully illustrated in the story of Enoch recorded in the fifth chapter. He was a prophet, the seventh from Adam (Jude 14) and prophesied especially of the time of the coming of the Lord in His glory and to execute judg- ment upon the ungodly. It is said of him that he “walked with God and was not for God took him” (Gen. 5:24). The writer of the book of Hebrews says “By faith Enoch was translated that 82 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION he should not see death; for before he was translated he had this testimony that he “pleased God” (Heb. 11:5). Other men had lived and died, but in the case of Enoch God interfered with the ordinary course of nature and made him a trophy of his own glorious victory over the power of death. Enoch had lived not for this life only, but in a hope of the after life, and God separated him unto that life. While on earth he had separated himself from worldly thoughts and from worldly companions and had “walked with God.” Having cultivated a desire to be with God he was granted his desire, for God took him unto the beauties of a life that has been delivered from death into life. In this incident God shows us first, that His redemption brings us into fellowship with Himself while we are yet on earth; second, that after this life it brings us into the fullness of life with Himself in the heavenly home. 51. Resume. In these chapters we have found that men cannot approach God except on the basis of sacrifice; that the sacrifice must be one of blood and death; that it requires faith to make such an offering. We have seen that the worshipper is not accepted unless his offering is—that the worshipper and the offering are alike accepted or rejected and that all acceptable sacrifices point to Jesus the eternal Sacrifice and hope of sinners. We have seen that false worshippers always persecute the true; that we are to live for another life instead of this and that the true man of faith in Jesus will ultimately triumph over death and live forever with God. In it all we have seen something of the wonders of Jesus who was slain and yet risen. He went through death to life and through defeat to victory. Abel is slain but rises again in Seth to live a victorious life and to issue in Noah who should give rest from the labor occasioned in the curse and who passed through judgment to a new world. Here is the explanation of the mystery of the atonement. The bruised heel of the Victor in man’s behalf deepens until it issues in the death of the Victim. It seems like the serpent’s victory, but it is the instrument of _ divine goodness in delivering men. ‘The bruised heel bruises the _ head of the serpent and thus the Great Sufferer is victorious THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL 83 through His suffering. All of Cain’s family have perished in the flood and the spirit of Abel through Seth and his descendant Noah alone survive. CHAPTER Vil The Story of the Flood Questions and Themes for Study. (1) Why did God decide to de- stroy the race? 6:1-13. (2) On what grounds was Noah exempt from the destruction of the flood? 6:8, 9; 7:1. (3) What is the size and what are the material and contents of the ark? 6:14-22. (4) What was the entire length of the flood? 7:11, 24; 8:4, 13, 14. (5) What was the nature of Noah’s sacrifice and of God’s new covenant with him? 8:20- 9:17. (6) What was the nature of Noah’s sin? 9:20-21. (7) From what is the origin of the nations traced? 9:18-19; 10:1,32. (8) What are some of the traditions of the flood? (9) What was the attitude of Noah’s sons toward the sin of their father? 9:22-23. (10) What great achievement did the race undertake on the plain of Shinar and with what purpose? 11:2-9. (11) To what did God object and how did He defeat their plans? 11:6-7. (12) What is the explanation of the origin of languages? 11:1, 8-9. (13) What are some traditions of the tower of Babel? Introductory Statement 52. The Two Races. The last chapter closed with two distinct and well established races upon the earth—the de- scendants of Cain and of Seth. The former had fully rejected God and His ways and had merited His extreme displeasure. It is an off-cast race, fully rejected of God, and illustrates the godless condition of all those who continue in sin and reject God’s way of salvation. The latter had from the very first been under the special divine favor. Seth, their great ancestor, had been filled with the spirit of Abel and through him the worship which Cain rejected and which was inter- rupted by the murder of Abel, was again begun upon the earth (Gen. 4:25-26). This latter race was famous, because through it came the great company of men of faith described in chapter five, of whom Noah, so prominent in this chapter, is the glorious prophet. So different were these two races —one being distinguished for its carnality and the other THE STORY OF THE FLOOD 85 for its spirituality—that the children of Cain were called “the sons of men”, and those of Seth “the sons of God” (chapter 6:2). This distinction reminds us of the work of Christ who gives us the power to become the sons of God (Jno. 1:12). 53. A Sad Mistake. But “the sons of God’ (descendants of Seth) made a very sad mistake in the cttitude they as- sumed toward “the sons of men” (Cain’s descendants). They looked upon the daughters of Cain and because they were very beautiful took them for wives. At first and outwardly, great advantages seemed to result from these marriages. Their children became great giants and were mighty men of renown. But is was a union brought about by yielding to lust and issued in great wickedness, especially in the corrup- tion of the descendants of Seth. It was a union of the religious with the irreligious portion of the race and shows how the indulgence of lust and appetite will degrade the noblest people. It was a union of the holy with the pro- fane, an unholy union of the divine with that which was human, a mingling together of the truth of God with false- hood, a combination of the blessing of faith in Christ and the work of sinful hands. And note that the trouble came be- cause the servants of God went off after the world. This is as it is ever. And the outcome warns us that we make no compromise in the matter of truth—that in so doing we have everything to lose and nothing to gain. It has an ap- plication to the whole question of religious or denomina- ‘tional union. ‘There was a show of physical strength, but it availed nothing. So also there is a heralded strength and bigness in the so-called union movements, but, if they are at the sacrifice of conviction and truth, it will be a bigness without the power of God to make it a blessing. In this case it led to a wickedness so great and so universal that God in His wrath determined to destroy the whole race. They had become so corrupt that “every imagination of the thought of his heart was only evil continuously” (Gen. 6:5) and God declared, “My spirit shall not always strive with men,” and set one hundred and twenty years as the limit when He would quit 86 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION striving with him and destroy him (chapter 6:3). It is the story of this destruction by means of the flood that we are to study in this chapter. Our study should proceed along two lines, first, along the lines of the distinctly typical applications, second, in the direction of the suggestive lessons or de- ductions. Distinctly Typical Calculations In I. Peter 3:18-22 we find a commentary on the flood, as a type. The ark is declared to be a type of Christ, the flood a type of the judgment of the whole world and the bringing of some safely through it, a type of salvation. In enlarging upon these suggestions, this passage also makes the flood typify the same thing as baptism. This last suggestion is very significant when we remember that baptism represents the burial and resurrection of Jesus and that He was baptised in the Jordan. 54. Jesus and the Jordan. The word Jordan means “de- sceuding judgment”. The river rises high up in the snows of Mount Hermon, and is at last swallowed up in the Dead Sea where nothing live evists. Everything that its descend- ing waters carry down into that sea is destroyed and well illustrates God’s judgment against sin. Here is an explana- tion of the baptism of Jesus. He came to John at Jordan and was submerged in its waves of judgement, thereby typ- ifying the baptism of death which according to His own words, He was later to accomplish. Figuratively, Jesus was passing through the wrath of God against sin as on Colvary later, He actually passed through it. Symbolically He was taking the place of a sinner overwhelmed by the wrath of God as on the cross He really bore the divine judgment as a substitute for sinners. Here, then is the reason for Christ’s baptism, the meaning of His word to John the Baptist “Thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.” He must begin by baptism which prefigures how He is to end His earthly career in His substituionary death on the cross. But He THE STORY OF THE FLOOD 87 arose out of the waters of the Jordan, not being swept down into the sea of death, and thereby prefigures His victory over death in the resurrection. Jesus declared that the experiences of Jonah in the depths of the sea, and his deliverance was a figure of His death and resurrection and Peter here teaches the same thing about the flood. But these billows of God’s righteous judgment unto death and safe deliverance beyond it, not only had reference to Jesus, but became also a type of our death and resurrection with Him (Col. 3:3). We died with Him and are resurrected with Him. The whole imagery is highly suggestive. It sees Jesus overwhelmed by the judg- ments of God and yet conqueror over them all—all as our substitute. 55. The World Before the Flood. The antedeluvian world was in many ways like all the world always. It was dead in sin. There were about it some noteworthy and remarkable things. It had great prosperity, a thing not to be despised. It had many beautiful women who should not in that have been a curse. It had men of great physical and carnal re- nown. This also should have been turned to their blessing. But the only thing which was really great—great in God’s sight—was its wickedness. There was nothing good. Their very thoughts and imaginations were continually evil. There was universal wickedness that furnishes a terrible picture of that “total depravity” which is so horrible and which the world is so loathe to accept. God had already passed judg- ment upon the world. He said “The end of all flesh is come before me” (Gen. 6:13). They were already lost. They had been judged and condemned. ‘The Adamic life was no longer in a state of probation or trial. God was done with it. It was already condemned and in every way a fit type of the unbelieving world which is already judged (Jno. 3:18). It was in a condition like John described as “(I Jno. 5:19). 56. The Wood of the Ark. The way of salvation as typi- fied by the ark may be approached in various ways. The very timber out of which it was made is suggestive. It was made 88 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION of gopher wood, or the acacia tree which was the only timber tree in the desert. This tree is used as a type of Christ when it is said He grew up as a “root out of dry ground” (Isa. 53:2). Just as the gopher thrived where there was no apparent moisture, so Jesus while a man in this desert world drew all His sustenance from a hidden source. ‘Then, too, it had to be cut down before it could be made into the ark which kept the family of Noah alive. Just so Jesus had to be cut off out of the land of the living. Cutting this timber then, speaks of Christ’s death by which He became the way of salvation. Here is the crucifixion. 57. The Pitch. It is also interesting to note that the ark was pitched within and without. This word pitch is “copher” and was the resin of the tree and represents the very essence of its hfe. Very significant also is the fact that this word “pitch” is the same word translated “atonement” or “cover up”. The essence of the life of the desert tree—this “root out of dry ground,” which it shed when it was cut down, made the covering or atonement that kept out the billows of divine judgment and secured the safety of all those within the ark. Here then, the ark as fully prepared, not only suggests the death of Christ, but also the atonement of His blood which covers us up in Himself and secures us against all wrath and judgment. It is, after all, His blood that shields us from destruction. How blessed this truth that we are sheltered under that atoning blood! 58. Entrance Into the Ark. Two or three things about entrance into the ark should be said. First of all, we should hold in mind that the ground, of the right of Noah’s family to enter it, was the righteousness of Noah to whom they were related. This is as a type of Jesus upon whose divine- human righteousness alone can we enter into safety from the wrath of God. In the second place, the time of their entrance into the ark is of much importance. Did they enter it before the flood came, or did they have to go through the flood to get into it? This is important in connection with the place THE STORY OF THE FLOOD 89 of baptism in our relation to Jesus. They were in the ark before the flood began. And, since the flood and baptism typify the same thing, one at once reaches the conclusion that one does not have to go through baptism to get into Jesus, but must enter Him by faith before baptism. Bap- tism is, therefore, not necessary to save us, or to help us to become Christians. 59. The Flood and The Resurrection. But the flood, like baptism, is a type of the resurrection also. Here are forty days of prevailing waters (Gen. 7:4, 12, 17), representative of perfect or satisfied judgment. In the third chapter of Jonah we have forty days, denoting complete repentance and for- giveness. In Luke 4:2 we have forty days of conflict and Christ’s complete triumph over satan. In Acts 1:3 there is recorded the completion of the forty days of resurrection instruction and plan for the work of a resurrected Christ through the resurrection lives of His disciples who have died to sin and the world and have been made alive unto Christ. They were landed beyond the judgment represented by the flood as Jesus arose from the death it prefigured. Then, too, the ark landed on Ararat, which means “holy ground”. ‘Those who have passed through the flood, whom, on its own buoyancy, the ark bore up above the mountain tops to the blue heavens were now to begin in the world beyond the flood and were to step out on “holy ground”’—a cleansed earth. It is a striking fact also that the ark rested there on the seventeenth day of the seventh month or the exact date of the resurrection of Jesus. When He said “This day have I begotten thee” (Psa. 2:7), He shows that He knew the exact day when He would rise. And since He is the “first-begotten by the resurrection”, we, too, become sons by the resurrection (Rom. 1:4). The dove and olive branch are also important as touching the resurrection. The dove found no rest for her foot so long as the waters of judgment were still upon the earth She would not stay out on the earth till the flood was en- tirely over. Here is a suggestion as to the Holy Spirit. He 90 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION came to Jesus at His Baptism in the form of a dove. But He came after Jesus was baptized, not before. It was after He symbolically died and rose again. He belongs to the Risen Christ and can abide only on the ground of a fully accomplished redemption. All judgment must be passed so that there can be entire security for the risen Christ-life in us. In like manner Jesus did not send the Holy Spirit to abide on us till He had gone to God, triumphant over death. Nor can we receive Him till we are delivered from the judg- ment and power of sin. The olive leaf is the first to put out in the spring and speaks of the resurrection, and the olive tree speaks of the spirit of Pentecost which followed Calvary. General and Practical Applications Turning now itom this more strictly typical interpreta- tion to a little more general and practical application of these same principles, let us pursue our study a little further. And in so doing a variety of viewpoints or angles of ap- proach suggest themselves. We choose as among the most helpful of these to study: (1) The flood as a whole. (2) The story of Noah as a type of the life and work of Jesus. (3) The ark. (4) The rainbow covenant after the flood was past. 60. The Flood as a Whole. First, then, let us look at the flood itself, and in its entirety. The whole story is everywhere filled with suggestions of the final great judg- ment, indeed of all judgment. It was brought on by the wickedness of the people and that after the long-suffering of God. Men had become so universally wicked that God saw that the only way to preserve righteousness and true re- ligion in the earth would be to destroy the ungodly. All of the people were involved and all were destroyed except the few of Seth’s descendants who gave heed to the divine warning and made themselves ready. The children of Cain were all destroyed, thus showing how all unbelievers will finally be brought to ruin. The saving of the family of Noah illustrates how surely will every one, who trusts him- self to God and His plan, escape. ‘The whole story shows THER. STORY OF THE FLOOD 91 us again how all human means utterly fail us when the day of God’s wrath shall come and how secure from all of its consequences are all of those who trust themselves to the plan which God provides. Salvation and destruction are both made manifest in this great catastrophe. 61. Noah and His Work. And now let us consider Noah, the hero of this entire section and the man to whom God made known His purpose to destroy all flesh and through whom He provided a means of escape from this great calam- ity The Scripture says of him that he “found grace in the sight of Jehovah” (Gen. 6:8). This favor was no doubt because of his character and conduct and because of his attitude toward Jehovah. He is said to have “walked with rod stsen. 6:95" 7:1). And: Peter ‘calls him')a) preacher: of righteousness. He was a righteous man and furnishes us the first illustration of a man saved from destruction while others around him were destroyed. In Hebrews we are told that it was by faith that he was enabled to prepare a way of escape, and by it he both condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith (Heb. 11:7). 62. Noah as a Man. In this view we are considering him merely as a man. And in him we find a truth that illustrates the way by which all men are saved from the wrath of God. He had a faith which enabled him to see beyond the outward appearance of things around him—a faith that saw a hundred and twenty years ahead when God would pour out His wrath upon all sinful men. That is, he did not live his life with re- gard to the present only. His plans were made more with ref- erence to the future than the present. Then, too, he was saved because he had faith enough to trust himself to the way which God had described to him and had declared to be a safe and certain means of escape. So are men saved today by trusting themselves to the way of life which God has revealed in Christ. 63. Noah a Type. But Noah must be studied not just as a man, but as a type and illustration of Christ. He is indeed 92 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION one of the very fullest of all the human types of Jesus. He is the first illustration of a man, who, because of his own right- eousness and obedience, was enabled to save others from an impending divine judgment. It was because he was acceptable to God that he was given a revelation of the divine purpose to destroy all flesh and that he was chosen to prepare a means of escape for all others who would accept it. God gave him the plan and he worked it out and completed it according to the divine will. He paid all of the expense, or did the work necessary to provide the ark. In all this he gives us an ex- hibition of the work of Jesus, Who was altogether pleasing to God, before undertaking the work of redemption and who worked out and fulfilled the Father’s will, so that He could offer salvation to,men on a basis of perfect obedience. Just as it was through and by Noah that any were saved from the flood, so it is by and through Jesus that any of us are saved from the divine wrath. They were saved by the means which he prepared just as we are saved by means prepared of Jesus —and that at His own cost. Then, too, Noah became a preacher of righteousness and endeavored to induce men to accept the means of safety which under God he had provided. In this He parallels the work of Christ who, having wrought out a plan of salvation, now offers safety to all who will accept it. Not only is destruction determined and a way of escape provided, but every possible effort is put forth to induce the people to see their impending danger and to accept the divine provision against it. Jesus through it is impleading with men to accept His salvation. 64. Noah’s Family Saved. Yet again, it is very interesting and highly suggestive to note that all of the members of Noah’s family were saved from the destructive judgment. At first one is saddened to think that no one else believed in Noah and his ark but his own family. One feels a sense of pity that his influence seemed to be so limited. And yet, there is a sense of genuine satisfaction in knowing that he did have the full confidence of all those who were so near to him and who had cause to know him most fully. How glad one is and what a THE STORY OF THE FLOOD 93 sense of relief it gives to find that no member of his own family failed of the salvation he had provided. Many a servant of God has not succeeded quite so well in this regard. And how significant is this fact when compared with the work of Christ Jesus! Just as Noah saved all of his own fami- ly, so Jesus saves all who come to Him for shelter from the consequences of their sins. He could say to the Father “Those whom thou hast given me have I kept and none of them is lost but the son of perdition that the Scriptures might be ful- filled” (Jno. 17:12). Here is a most assuring suggestion—that just as Noah succeeded in saving all of his family from the flood, so will Christ save from the divine wrath all of those who have joined themselves to Him. He will not lose any who have ever been born into His spiritual family. Moreover, Noah became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. In- deed he was the head of all the delivered family of men who in turn became forever linked to Him as their great head and ancestor. So, likewise, Jesus is the head of all the spirit- ual seed and we, having been born unto Him, can never become separated from Him. We are included with Him in His vic- tory over the divine wrath against sin, and nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:38-39). 65. The Ark. But let us turn now to the consideration of the ark as a means of salvation from the flood to see if it has for us any lessons that are illustrative of the work of Jesus in world redemption. And to begin with, it should be said that the ark was frequently used and always with the purpose of saving that which was in danger of being de- stroyed. ‘The infant Moses, when there hung over him the King’s sentence of death, was put in an ark of bulrushes and thrust out into the river and thereby escaped the wrath of the king until he was rescued by the sympathetic ‘hand of Pharoah’s daughter. (While there ‘He’ occupied, the very same position that sin occupied in the sight of God. He was not a sinner, but took the place of sin, and bore all the shafts of _ divine hatred against it. But like the ark He was not Him- self utterly destroyed. All this is to say that while we are hiding in Him and are protected by Him, He receives (or received on Calvary) every blow that would otherwise have fallen upon us. This illustrates the truth that Jesus “bore our sins in His body on the tree” (I Pet. 2:24) and that “The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all” (chapters 53: 6) while we are delivered from the wrath of God through Him (Rom. 5:9). And we who have taken refuge in Him cannot be harmed unless He shall go down under the power of that wrath. 68. Entrance into the Ark and into Christ Voluntary. Let it also be remembered that no one was forced to enter this ark. It was fully and freely prepared and all were invited and urged to enter and take advantage of its provisions, but each one was left entirely free to act as he willed. All those who entered did it at their own will. Nor was there 96 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION any prohibitory price to prevent their entering. They were asked to pay no part of the expense of building the ark. It was absolutely free to them. Noah, under God’s instruction, had prepared it and offered them safety without money and without price. So it is in our salvation in Jesus. The way was prepared wholly at the expense of divine love. Jesus pays all and offers us salvation as a gift. We do not have to pay any part of the price of our redemption, but observe that it is simply offered to us. God does not require any one to ac- cept Jesus as Savior. No one is saved against his will. The Lord does persuade us, even as Noah preached to the peo- ple. We are free to reject Him or not as we will. God can, therefore, make a true charge against all who perish saying “ye would not come unto me that ye might have life”. The blame for the loss of every life then was that they would not enter the ark and the blame for the loss of every soul that shall spend eternity in despair will rest upon the in- dividual himself or herself. They act upon their own wish. 69. God In Charge After We Enter Christ. It is notice- able, however, that when once they entered the ark, they immediately lost their freedom. God had charge alike of the ark and of all that was in it. He held the keys in His own hand. He shut the door, thereby enclosing them with- in. They could not have gotten out, if they desired. It is unthinkable that they should have desired to get out, but if they had, it would have been impossible. They were there, securely shut in, to remain in safety until the flood was en- tirely assuaged and God could invite them out beyond the flood and on a new and cleansed earth. So it is when we enter Christ. We are no longer free to shape our own des- tiny. God has undertaken our deliverance from sin and will carry the undertaking through to completion. We have en- tered into Christ and He has sealed us there until all of the dangers of destruction are past. We enter into Jesus, but God sees to it that we stay in Him until the day of revelation of His glory in final salvation. It is beyond our power to THE STORY OF THE FLOOD 97 be lost when we have entered into Jesus. And just as every one who entered the ark was saved, so every one who ever enters by faith into Jesus will be saved. Nor did their feel- ings while in the ark and while the flood raged, have any- thing to do with their safety. Whether they slept peace- fully and in full confidence or were terror-stricken all the time they were in the ark made no difference in their safety. It was no longer their enterprise or responsibility, but God’s. His honor was now envolved and they were safe unless God proved unfaithful in keeping His promise to them, or the means He had provided should prove insufficient. So will we be saved, unless God’s Christ shall fail us. 70. Safe Before Judgment Began. Here let us observe that not only was the ark complete before the flood began, but all those who were willing to be saved were in the ark and safely shut in before the rains began to fall. Not one drop of it fell upon them. It all fell upon the ark. So in the matter of salvation in Christ those who are to be saved will be in Him sealed and safe before the day of wrath ap- pears. This is always the Lord’s way. Jf He would destroy Sodom, He would come down and get Lot entirely out of the city before any fire fell. Let all who have accepted Christ be entirely at rest. No one of them will be caught in the floods of judgment, for God will have them safe before any of His wrath shall descend. 71. Saved by Faith. So here also is seen the place of faith in the whole matter. ‘The ark was complete and the family of Noah was invited in and was securely shut up there be- fore there were any visible signs of the coming flood. God had declared that it would come and had invited them to enter the ark for safety against that which as yet had not begun to manifest itself. To enter the ark at such a time was an act of faith. They acted not on appearances, but on the word of God. ‘Their salvation from the flood was, therefore, by faith. In the same way we are saved in Christ Jesus. It is wholly through faith in His Name that we are 98 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION brought into saving relation to God’s grace. And we trust Him now, while as yet we are in no apparant or visible danger. 72. The World Situation. Taking the story as a whole, we see a wicked world which God has determined to destroy. We have a divine way provided to save any and all who accept that way. We have a little group of eight persons who were wise enough to believe God and to avail themselves of the provision which He had made. The flood came and all the race perished except those who had trusted themselves to the divine means of escape. ‘Then, too, we see the little group that had escaped, begin a new life beyond the power of the flood. Precisely this, says Jesus, is the situation as it will exist when He shall come for final judgment. He says that it will be at His coming just as it was in the days of Noah. The people will be busy about their own affairs. They will not be looking for Him nor will they be expecting any danger or prepared for it and will, therefore, be destroyed. But all believers will be safe in the power of His grace. 73. Saved Worshippers and the Rainbow Covenant. When the flood was over and they were again out on the earth, they did just as we should expect of them. They set up anew the true worship of God. Their sense of joy and gratitude, like that of all redeemed souls, sought expression in worship to Him who had delivered them. They built an altar and made such a sacrifice to God as had probably never been seen on earth before. In response to this true spirit of wor- ° ship, God came down and made a new covenant with Noah. He promised that He would not again bring a flood upon the earth. That is to say, He promised that those who through faith had been saved from the awful scourge would never again be endangered by it. Here is a most precious truth when we apply it to the saving work of Jesus. It teaches us how Jesus, before He releases those who have committed themselves to Him, carries them to a position where they can never be brought back into the judgment of God. They are THES LORY Ob MPIE ELOOD 99 put entirely past the flood which has dried up and can never return again. So Jesus delivers us past all danger of judg- ment of God. 74. The Rainbow. ‘To assure them that their deliverance from flood was final they were given the sign of the rainbow or the rainbow covenant. In establishing this covenant God said “I will remember”. It is to remind Him as well as to assure Noah and his family. His promise is to remember His covenant, but not to remember their sins. Now how like the cross of Christ is all this! By it He ratified and sealed His covenant of mercy and by it He also put away our sins. In every way this is a beautiful emblem. Noah and his family would naturally fear lest another flood would come upon them. Remembering the past, fear would seize their hearts whenever any dark cloud would arise or any rain begin to fall. So God put His rainbow across such dark cloud as a guarantee that it would not bring a flood. Across the dark cloud was stretched God’s beautiful bow which would call to their minds His promise and would assure them He had not forgotten His covenant. And those of us who have been careful to observe, know that the blacker and more threaten- ing the cloud, the brighter and more beautiful is the rain- bow and hence the fuller and more perfect the divine assur- ance of our safety from the apparant danger. 75. The Rainbow and Jesus on the Cross. Now this rain- bow is a fit emblem or type of Jesus and His work on the cross and also of His work of assurance to us all the time. At the cross there was all the darkness of a most awful tragedy. Even the mid-day became black as night. Jesus was bearing the suffering of a lost world. But there was also beauty there and hope. There He could pray for the forgiveness of His enemies. There He could and did offer a penitent thief a place of glory with Himself in Paradise. He could declare “It is finished” and thus let us see a perfected plan of redemption and an end of such suffering for all those who should trust Him. He, Himself, is never again thus to suffer. So that now when any terrible calamity threatens the 100 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION eternal interests of the believer, he may and should look to Jesus on the cross as his rainbow of hope spanning the cloud that threatens him and rest in peace. For Jesus is ever in Heaven and in the presence of God as a perpetual remem- brance of His covenant of mercy with us. He is there as our guarantee that we will not again fall under the divine judg- ment and wrath unless God shall revoke His covenant. As long as there is a rainbow the world is safe from a flood and so long as Jesus remains in the presence of God all believers are safe from destruction. 76. Noah After the Flood. Beginning anew with a clean and purified earth, Noah and his family occupied very much the same position which Adam did at first when placed in the garden of Eden, except that they had in themselves the evil effects of an inherited sinful nature. And like Adam, Noah fell under the power of a temptation to sin and like Adam he failed and was found naked. This is a most pathet- ic picture and reminds us that awful dregs of sin remain in the very best of men. One would expect that with all of his past experience of grace and his new start in a world where the wicked had all perished, Noah would have kept from sin, but the story reveals to us how impossible it is for man, no matter how encouraging his surroundings, to measure up to the divine requirements. No matter what his privileges, no mater how great his advantages, no matter how desirable his position and environment, he will always exhibit his weak- ness and sin. Every man will sometime and somehow show his need of a Savior and for divine covering. However, this ereat sin did not put him in the danger of another flood, which God had already declared should not come. Nor do our blunders after we have become Christians, no matter how shameful, put us in danger of damnation. 77. Noah’s Nakedness Covered. And here again as in the garden the man’s sin discovers his nakedness and his naked- ness is covered. It is very significant that those who covered him did not look upon his nakedness. ‘hese two sons, Shem THE STORY OF THE FLOOD 101 and Japheth, refused to look upon him in his shameful and exposed condition. They surely knew something Of yane blessedness of “the man whose iniquity is forgiven and whose sin is covered.” In turning their backs upon his sin and nakedness and in covering up his shame they furnished us a fine illustration of the divine method of dealing with human sins, and particularly with the sins of believers. Through the blood of Christ He would cover up all of our sins so that He may not look upon them and be moved to destroy us. Here again is found the blessing of the righteousness of Christ in which the believer is clothed and by which his sins are blotted out. CHAPTER VII. The Story of Abraham Questions and Themes for Study. (1) Why did Abraham leave home? 12:1-3. (2) What did he do at the end of the journey? 12:7-8. (3) Why did he not remain long at one place? 12:9; 13:2-5. (4) Why did he go to Egypt? 12:10. (5) What was the trouble between the servants of Abraham and Lot and how was it settled? 13:5-8. (6) On what did Lot base his choce? 15:10-11. (7) What two promises did God make to Abraham? 13:14-17. (8) What promises were made to Abraham concerning his coming son? 13:14-17; 15:5; 17:6-8. (9) Who came to Abraham’s tent and how did he treat them? 18:1-8. (9) What message did’ he receive from Jehovah? 18:9-15. (11) What estimate of Abraham is found in 18:19, 23-32? (12) What is taught. about the birth and name of Isaac? 21:1-7. (13) What test of Abra- ham did God make and how did Abraham obey? 22:1-10. (14) In what two ways did God express His approval? 22:11-12, 15-19. The Time and Place of Abraham’s Call 78. Material Civilization. Since the time of the incidents of the last chapter, great changes have taken place in the world. The descendants of Noah have repeopled the earth and have been separated into various nations. Indeed, long before Abra- ham there had been developed a most complex and complete civil- ization. Egypt and Chaldea were at the height of their building enterprises, the largest of the pyramids having already been com- pleted. A great stone wall had long ago been built across the Isthmus or Suez, great canal systems had been built, and there existed especially in Tyre and Sydon large glass works and dye- ing factories. ‘There were carried on immense commercial en- terprises both on land and on sea. ‘There had been developed a highly efficient system of schools and colleges and there was literature. Culture, commerce, law and religion had all reached a state of great advancement. This civilization was all prompted by religious motives. THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 103 79.° Moral and Religious Conditions. Outwardly this civil- ization was one of splendor. It provided forall the comforts of the times of peace and had made preparations for defense and conquest in times of war. But inwardly there was a great moral corruption that was fast bringing the world to ruin. Idol wor- ship was everywhere to be found, especially the worship of the moon-god or Baal of Haran. This god was the object of the worship in Ur of the Chaldees where Abraham was born. It was a fierce and lustful worship which fostered such awful practices that the descriptions of them horrify us today. It is entirely probable that Sodom and Gomorrah whose wickedness led to their destruction were but illustrations of the whole civiliza- tion of that time. Even Abraham’s father was reputed to have been a maker and seller of idols. 80. Abraham’s Call. Out of such a time and out of such a home God called Abraham who should form a new nation and establish a pure religion which could be used as the basis of a new civilization acceptable to God. He was to leave his kindred and native land and for conscience sake, serve the one true and only God and that in the midst of social and national customs wholly against him. ‘Thus again he was to call back the people from their idolatry and set up anew in the world the spiritual worship of Jehovah. Moreover, he was to become the father of a son out of whom would come the blessing of all the nations. In this was a promise of the coming of Christ who should save the world from sin. ‘To emphasize this strictly religious purpose of his calling, Abraham, wherever he went, built an alter to God and worshiped. His was a call to religious statesmanship and was met by high and holy religious faith and service. Abraham Exemplifies a Life of Faith. 81. Began in Faith. Such a man chosen as he was to es- tablish a new and true religion would be expected to illustrate in himself many of the great principles of that religion. And in this we are not disappointed. For on the one hand he shows us in his own attitudes and actions the true human side and on the other illustrates the divine aspects of this Jehovah religion. In J Le - es nh, al. a % {52° ha wD 104 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION the first place his religion was to be one of faith. He was to lead the people to rely upon God for their strength and salvation. To found such a religion he must himself be a man of faith. It was but natural, therefore, that his first step should require faith, and so he was called to leave his own land and people to go he knew not where—simply to a country which God would _ show him. He must trust the word of God for it. Thus, as in all true religion of Jehovah, our spiritual life must begin in faith. Abraham, in the one act of taking up that journey toward a strange and unknown land, trusted his whole future to God. That is precisely what all sinners who would now be saved must do—trust their destinies into the hand of Christ. ‘The divine life cannot be begun except by an exercise of faith. We must trust to Him our career, and our destiny, and venture on His Word. 82. Lived by Faith. Then, too, he must not only begin his relation to God by an act of faith, but must forever thereafter trust himself to the divine guidance and blessing. His whole life was one requiring a constant exercise of faith. This fact is everywhere seen in the story. When the necessity arose for a separation between himself and Lot, his nephew, he did no schem- ing, but trusted his interests wholly to the wisdom and provi- dence of God, while Lot tried by his own wisdom to care for himself. Abraham challenged Lot to choose whatever section of the country he desired and he would risk whatever was left. Lot selfishly selected what promised earthly riches and ease, but soon discovered that what he had chosen rested under the curse of God. On the other hand, as soon as Lot had separated himself and gone to the accursed place of his choice, God visited Abra- ham and renewed with him His covenant and gave him new as- surances of the divine pleasure and blessing. This is as it is always. Whatever we choose by sight out of selfishness and because of a lack of faith in God will finally be lost to us, while whoever will, as did Abraham, trust his interests all into the hands of God and His providence, will never be forsaken or defeated. Here, then, Abraham, not only illustrates the truth that we must be saved by faith, but that “the just shall live by faith” (Hab. 2:4; Rom 1:17). We can live no day truly, without looking to God for both strength and leadership. i? “ THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 105 Abraham Illustrates Jesus. 83. His Attitude Toward God. Let us turn now from the consideration of these matters in which Abraham illustrates the life of a true man of faith and notice some of the phases of Christ and His work which he exhibits. In everything he manifested a reverence, a confidence, a love and a submission to God that re- minds us of Jesus. His chief desire seems to have been to please and obey God. In this he showed forth the spirit of Jesus whose very meat and drink was to do the will of the Father who had sent Him, Who said he must be about His Father’s busi- ness, Who declared “I must work the works of Him that sent Me, and Who in the awful garden said “Not my will, but thine be done.” 84, His Sacrifices. Moreover he often made blood sacri- fices in which he no doubt saw by faith something of the sacrifice that Jesus was to make on the cross. On one occasion at the command of Jehovah he made five offerings in one in which were summed up much of the work and the meaning of the death of Christ (Gen. Ch. 15). On another occasion—that of the sacrifice of Isaac and the ram that took his place—he made an offering that reminds us of the substitutionary death and resurrection of , Jesus. And all of these sacrifices were made at the command and according to the will of God. 85. Relation to Others. Again Abraham became the father of the faithful. He was the example and leader of all those who were ever to be saved by faith in the promises of God. He trust- ed himself to the Invisible One and so became a sort of head or father of the whole spiritual family (Rom. 4:16-17). In this he occupied a position similar to that occupied by Jesus in relation to those who become His disciples. They have Him for their head and examplar in all things. He is Author of the way of salvation for man, just as Abraham began anew the true worship of God at a time when he alone of all men knew God in truth. In Abraham all the nations of the earth were to be blessed just as all nations and peoples are offered life and light in Christ Jesus. Then, too, Abraham became a world blessing, because God chose 106 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION him and blessed him to that end. So also Jesus is the hope and blessing of all mankind, because God the Father, from all eternity, set Him apart for such redemptive work. God “laid on Him the iniquities of us all” and thus He stood as a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. 86. His Rescue of Lot. He also represented Jesus in His work of rescuing others. This he does in more ways than one and on more than one occasion. ‘The most notable case is his work of rescuing Lot. This he does twice and in each illustrates a particular phase of Christ’s redemptive work. The first instance is narrated in Genesis 14:1-16 and tells how, during the battle of the four and five kings, Lot was carried away into captivity; Abraham armed his servants and followed the captors and by making battle upon them rescued Lot and recovered the goods that had been taken. This is a most signifi- cant illustration of the work that Jesus does in redeeming us from sin. We had all been taken captive by the devil at his will and Jesus came to rescue us and so preached deliverance to the captives (Lu. 4:18). This is all the more fundamental and suggestive when we re- call that Lot had separated himself from Abraham and had gone into his danger by seeking his own profit and pleasure and not that of Abraham. In just this condition Jesus came to men. They had wilfully gone away from God and were engaged in the pursuit of their own pleasure and profit when satan overtook them. But Jesus came down to rescue them. Putting it other- wise, Abraham was under no obligation to Lot and therefore rescued him because of love, and as a matter of grace, just as Jesus saves us. This is an important principle. For it is b grace that we are saved and not our own works. (Eph. 2:8-9). Moreover, in order to rescue Lot it became necessary for Abra- ham to make war upon Lot’s enemy and overcome him. Lot was in a helpless condition. He was unable to overthrow his enemy and recover himself. And Abraham by attacking these enemies had to subject himself to the danger of death (for he might be killed in the battle). It was a question of his conquering THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 107 them through his superior strength. Now this is exactly what Jesus did for lost sinners. He saw them helpless in the hand of satan. ‘They had no means or power of escape. It was necessary that He should first overcome the devil. Satan the strong man had to be overcome by Jesus the stronger One (Matt.12:29). It was a battle royal which began in the wilderness where Jesus was forty days tempted of the devil. He continued the struggle un- til His death on the cross. In this He triumphed over satan and openly exposed his wickedness (Col. 2:15) and even destroyed satan (Heb. 2:14). He then rose again from the dead and thereby led captivity captive and gave gifts to men. The second case of Abraham’s rescue of Lot was very different. It did not in any way endanger him and illustrates the work Jesus, as our Intercessor, performs. God had determined to des- troy Sodom and Gomorrah and came down and fully revealed His purpose to Abraham, who at once made an earnest plea for any righteous persons who might be living there. While he did not mention Lot and showed a faith that halted, God knew what he sought and, when the time for the great destruction had fully come, He remembered Abraham and his plea and for his sake sent His angels down and removed Lot out of the city before the destruction began (Gen. 19:29). Now this is very like the intercessions of Jesus for His re- deemed people. For who can fail to see in this story a parallel to the condition that is to exist when the final destruction of all things shall come. Lot, the righteous man, liived in a doomed city, but he did not know the time or the nature of the destruction that threatened it. But before the wrath of God was manifested he was removed out of all danger and that because of the interces- sions of Abraham. In like manner, the Christian has Jesus who will plead his cause and before the wrath of God shall come, He will, for the sake of Jesus, come down and remove us entirely out of the path of His destructive wrath. Here, then, is our blessing that we have Jesus as our Advocate with God. 87. Redeemer and Intercessor. If we view them together, the two occasions of the rescue of Lot discussed above and the 108 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION part played in each by Abraham are very interesting and instruc- tive. In the first case, Lot had been led captive by an evil enemy and was rescued by Abraham attacking and overcoming his cap- tor. This was as the work of Jesus on the cross and by which we are delivered from the power of the devil. In the second place, he is in a doomed city and in danger of being destroyed along with the city and God sent down His angels and delivered him because of the appeals of Abraham. And notice that the rescue from a captor came first and the delivery from God’s wrath later. That is to say the work of the cross always comes before the work of intercession. We are first delivered out of the power of satan, in which act we are redeemed from sin and then have our great deliverer to guard all of our interests forever thereafter. And we may be assured’ that as in the case of Lot, so will it be with us—that all who receive the blessing of the work of the cross will also be finally removed from the power of God’s wrath. ‘That is to say, whenever Jesus once gives us the blessing of His grace in the work of redemption, whenever He bestows upon us the for- giveness and salvation which He wrought out on the cross, He will forever thereafter guarantee our safety from the wrath of God. We cannot fail to see that when he had rescued him from the power of his enemy he released him to live in the very city where he had been captured. He lived there in the doomed city until the time of the appearance of the divine judgment against it. So does Jesus rescue us from satan and still let us live here in this condemned earth where we were overcome by Him. It should also be said that when Lot was once delivered from his captors he was never again in danger of them. So also when through the cross we are delivered from the bondage of satan, we are never again in danger of him. Only God’s wrath and never satan could endanger us and Jesus, who ever liveth at the right hand of God, by His continued intercessions, assures against that wrath. “Much more being now justified by His blood, we shall be saved by the wrath of God through Him. For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled we shall be saved by His life.” (Rom. 5:9-10). It is His exalted life of interces- sion that will save us from the wrath of God. THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 109 88. Abraham Represents the Father. At this point we should remember that Abraham was more than representative of Jesus. There are some matters connected with his life and work in which he represents God and Father. It will, of course, be un- derstood that in this, as in the matters in which he illustrated the work of Jesus, it is not claimed that he perfectly illustrates. A few suggestions will be enough to impress the point we raise. Abra- ham like God had but one true son and heir and that son, like the Son of God, was destined to be a means of blessing to all the nations of the earth. Like Jesus, that son abode continually with his father and was the very delight of the father’s heart. More- over, Abraham was very rich but gave all he had into the hands of his son (Gen. 24:36), which reminds us that God has given into the hands of Jesus, His only-begotten Son, all authority both in Heaven and in earth (Matt. 28:18). Abraham also represented God the Father in offering his son in sacrifice and in finding there a figure of the resurrection as he received him back as from the dead. Once more, he sought and secured for Isaac, his son, a bride and saw him happy in receiving her. Just so God the Father set Himself the task of securing for Jesus His Son, the church, as His bride, and will finally and fully unite them in glory. Particular Experiences of Abraham. Here we turn aside from these more general matters and give our consideration to the spiritual suggestions growing out of some particular experiences of Abraham. He had some expe- riences that especially illustrate the blessings and obligations, as well as the work and attitudes of Jesus and the Father and of the disciples of Christ. ‘To these we must give some attention. 89. Sacrifices of Chapter Fifteen. And first, let us consider some matters that are recorded in the fifteenth chapter.. God in- structed Abraham to prepare and offer to Him a sacrifice and to wait upon Him for a revelation of the divine covenant. After it was fully prepared Abraham waited for the manifestation of Jehovah. But while he waited, fowls or birds of prey came down upon the sacrifice and attempted to take it away. But Abraham 110 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION protected the offering and drove them away. He had been fully instructed of God, just what to offer and just how to offer it. He had followed the heavenly instructions and was determined not to allow anything to interfere and remove the sacrifice which according to the will of God he had offered. Now here is a lesson for us in all our worship. In the firse place God’s way of worship has been made known to us and we must not change it or allow it disturbed by another. ‘Then, too, we learn that it was in connection with this sacrifice that God promised to bring Abraham assurances of the divine blessing and to make known to him His will. This is precisely the condition of our blessing today. God has shown us how to present Jesus His slain Victim for sin as our offering. And only as we come to God resting in Him as our sacrifice can we hope to have God reveal Himself to us and make known to us His gracious will. We must never forget that it is through the crucified Savior that we receive all of our spiritual blessings. But there are some who bear the attitude toward the crucified Savior that the vul- tures did toward the sacrifice of Abraham. They would take Him away. ‘They especially try to take away His cross and death. They are offended at the cross. But like Abraham we must stay near Him and must drive away any and all who would remove all or any part of Jesus our sacrifice. We must contend for His deity, for His propitiatory and substitutionary death and for His glorious resurrection and exaltation. We must drive away all critics of Jesus and His redemptive work and must allow no doubt about Him to enter our hearts. For it is in Him as our sacrifice that we are blessed. He is the basis of all our covenant of divine favor and through Him alone may we expect God to visit us with blessing. We must not let Him be taken away. But as night began to come on, and the vultures were gone, Abraham fell into a deep sleep and saw a smoking furnace and a burning lamp pass between the portions of his sacrifice and God told him that his seed should suffer as slaves for a long period of time, but that God would finally judge their oppressor and deliver them out of their afflictions. After this they were to have great possessions. Now this clearly refers to Israel as a THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 111 nation. It is an exact picture of how they suffered as slaves of Egypt and were delivered by the hand of God. ‘They were a helpless and down-trodden people, but came out of it all by the manifestation of the divine power. Also they came out of Egypt “with great substance” (Ch. 15:14), just as this passage predict- ed. Of course this may in a way be illustrated by other periods of their history, but not in full. Here also there is a suggestion of the great work of Israel. She was to be a sort of Messianic race—a nation that would bless all nations and reveal to them the divine will for them. Jehovah would deposit among the Jews His word and through them would show to all nations a pattern of all things that are good and right in His sight. It was, therefore, fitting that they should first go by way of the path of suffering, for it is always necessary for us, if we are to sympathize with another, to have all his experiences of hardships. Once again Israel in this became, as a nation, the type of Jesus. Indeed Jesus was to come from Abraham and the nation was a figure of the Person who should finally come as the gracious Sav- ior. In the nation growing out of Abraham was illustrated in its experiences all the experiences of the Son of God who was the flower and highest product of that nation. If He was to be a suffering Savior she must be a suffering nation. As He was to suffer wrongly and be humiliated so was the nation to suffer. As he was, after His suffering, to be exalted and given great power and glory, so was also Israel. Here then in this vision Abraham had something of a revelation of the day of Jesus our Savior. It was probably concerning this experience among others that Jesus could say “Your Father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it and was glad. (John 8:56). 90 Ishmael and Isaac and their Mothers. The story of Ish- mael and Isaac and their mothers is another matter for our con- sideration. In part this is a story of sorrow and shame. God had promised to give Abraham a son, but Sarah his wife doubted God. She thought she was too old to be the mother of a son and induced Abraham to take Hagar her hand-maid for a concubine 112 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION and let her bear a son. In doing this they ceased to believe God and added their own wisdom and works to His promise. They were afraid God could not carry out His promises and would somehow become embarrassed about it. The result of this un- belief and human works was a great sorrow to Abraham and his wife. God discarded all their work—rejected Hagar and her son Ishmael. He then came to Sarah and caused her to bear a son in fulfilment of God’s promise. Paul uses this story as an allegory of the doctrines of salvation by works and by faith (Gal. 4:21-31). It shows how we can add nothing to the promise of God. Neither can we mix works and faith. Our relation to God will depend wholly upon our reliance upon God’s promise and will not be made any surer by the deeds of the law. Moreover, we see how great trouble arises when these matters are mixed. Paul makes Ishmael a representative of the flesh. He was born of the will of man while Isaac was born of the will of God. ‘The birth of Ishmael was before that of Isaac, showing how man always tries his own works before trusting God. ‘Then too, He at once became a source of trouble to Abra- ham. Jealousy arose in the heart of Sarah and she treated Hagar harshly. But that did not change the condition or remedy the evil. When Isaac was born Ishmael teased him and caused Abraham fresh trouble. Sarah demanded that Hagar and Ish- mael be sent away. She would not suffer her child to be teased. And being a representative of the flesh, Ishmael shows how the “flesh always lusteth against the Spirit.” The birth of Isaac, the spiritual man, did not change the nature of Ishmael. Just so, when one is regenerated or there is planted in him the new divine life, it does not change our old nature. Nor does that old nature ever get any better. We may bring it more and more under sub- jection to the Spirit, but it 1s wicked still. It only waits for an opportunity or a temptation so that it may express itself. But there is another matter connected with this effort of living by sight instead of by faith. It set in motion evil influences that continued to hinder the work of God for all the future. Let it be remembered that this Hagar was an Egyptian. And when her son Ishmael grew to manhood she took him a wife from THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 113 among the Egyptians. He grew into a great race of descendants called Ishmaelites to whom Joseph was sold and who in turn took him into Egypt and sold him into slavery. Esau, Jacob’s offended brother, married the daughter of Ishmael. Out of Ishmael also came the wandering Arab and many of the sufferings of Israel. Here is an illustration of the far-reaching results of our sins. Al- though God may pardon us for the mistakes, we can never be relieved of the results. We must reap what we sow. If we sow to the flesh (and that is what they did in the matter of Hagar and her son), we shall of the flesh reap corruption. What a pity that they did not trust God at first and not introduce this sore trouble into the world! Here is our warning—not to trust to works, but to let God work out and fulfill His own purpose. It is Paul’s illustration to the Galatians not to add works to faith. 91. The Sacrifice of Isaac. Before closing this chapter on Abraham we must recur again to two matters of great signifi- cance. The first concerns the offering of Isaac in sacrifice (Ch. 22). The main discussion will of course come under the study of the life of Isaac. But it is important to note here that it was all on the initiative of God and that it especially tested the devo- tion of Abraham the father. He had to be willing to give up his only son just as God gave up Jesus His only-begotten Son. It is a father who gives his son. The father seems the most prominent and the son obediently submits to his will. The father answers to God who provides Himself a lamb. All of it is said to be to tempt or try Abraham and we wonder why God should have so tested his faith. But, if rightly under- stood, it was worth while. Such a history is worthy of honor. God knew his faith and by this requirement brought that faith into the sight of others. He was thereby justified in his works and at the same time made a wonderful display of the Father’s heart. ‘The elements of love and sorrow which filled full the father’s cup reveal to us something of the sacrifice which God made for the world when He gave His only begotten Son that the world might be saved. It is this side of the sacrifice—the Father’s—that the apostle has in mind when he said “He that spared not His own Son but 114, GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN :OF REDEMPTION overlook the Son’s sacrifice, but we are to give special attention to that of the Father. God is not passive, but active as a giver when Jesus hangs on Calvary. God has given us His Son—His only begotten Son—and in-so doing has once for all declared to us His heart. There can be no doubt of His nature or of His attitude toward us. Abraham then shows us God in the redemp- tive work. It suggests that ““God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). 92. Isaac Secures a Wife. The other matter that should be studied here is the work of Abraham in securing a wife for Isaac (chapter 24). In the very first place we are impressed with the fact that Abraham had but one son and that he was rich, and had given all he had into the hands of his son. This compares well with our knowledge of God who had but “one only-begotten Son,” Jesus Christ, to whom He gave all things. Then, too, the fact that he realized his son’s need for a bride and set about providing her for him is very like the work of God in providing the church as the bride of Christ. This, again, as in the case of Adam and the wife created for him, brings the suggestion that we are needful for Christ. It should also be impressed upon us that it was all the work of Abraham the father. He saw the need and laid the plan and prescribed the conditions of the marriage. He decided upon what should be the qualifications of the woman whom his son should marry. Then, too, he sent forth his servant to accomplish his will in the matter. How like the matter of redemption is all this! It is all according to the heavenly Father’s plan. He made the plan from all eternity and when the time of His purpose came He set about seeking out those who should form the bride of Jesus and be forever with Him. Just as did Abraham, He also furnishes ample proof of his sincerity. Moreover he not only sent evidences of the riches and blessing which she should re- ceive, but made provision for safely delivering her or bringing her to the home of Isaac. In this there is illustrated the truth that God has provided ample grace whereby we are to be car- THE STORY OF ABRAHAM 115 ried safely to heaven where we shall be ever with the Lord our Savior. Before closing it is worth while for us to notice that it was just after the death of Sarah, Abraham’s wife, that he secured Rebekah for Issac. It is noticeable also that she entered into the tent of Sarah and made it her abode. In this we find the sugges- tion of the fall or cutting off of Israel which was followed by the establishment of the church. Isaac is a type of Jesus and Rebekah for Isaac. It is noticeable also that she entered into the Father and Sarah a type of Israel. And just as Sarah passed away before Rebekah came in, so Israel was discarded and the church was established in her place. There was no church be- fore, just as Isaac did not have a wife before. All the principles of grace promised in Sarah were conserved and assured in Rebe- kah whose name means “binding!” So also we have fulfilled in the church all the blessings that had been foreshadowed in Israel. ‘There has been conserved in it everything good that came to us from Israel and there is in her abundant comfort when we remember her relation to Jesus. 93. Abraham’s Second Marriage. And finally, Abraham mar- ried again (chapter 25:1). In his second wife, Keturah, we per- haps have some foreshadowing of the restoration of Israel. She is probably a type of restored Israel. But in all this we are raising the question of the dispensational application of these stories. And it is not within our purpose to present a dispensa- tional discussion. CHAPTER VIII. The Story of Isaac. Questions and Themes for Study. (1) What two restrictions were made as to Isaac’s marriage, 24:4, 6, 8? (2) By what test did Abra- ham’s servant discover God’s choice for Isaac’s wife, 24:12-14, 17-21? (3) What did Abraham’s servant give Rebekah and her people, 24:22, 53? (4) How was Rebekah received, 24:63-67? (5) What took place at Gerar when Isaac visited there, 25:1-17? (6) Why did Abimelech want to covenant with Isaac, 26:28? (7) What source of grief came to Isaac and Rebekah, 26:34-352? (8) How did Rebekah plan for Jacob to deceive Isaac, 27:8-13? (9) Why was Jacob sent away from home, 27:41-28:5? (10) Who buried Isaac, 35:28-29? Already it has been several times indicated that Isaac was a type of Christ. We come now to consider the incidents of his career in the hope of tracing more fully the suggestions which they furnish of Jesus and His work. | 94. His Birth. (1) Foretold. The first thing to attract our attention is the unusual connected with his birth and the first extra- ordinary thing about his birth is that it was long foretold. God came to Abraham and promised him a seed that should be a bless- ing to all mankind. Abraham waited through long weary years and grew discouraged about his coming and at the suggestion of Sarah his wife took Hagar for a concubine and begat a son by her, hoping that he should be the one promised by God. ‘This is exactly paralleled in the promise of the coming of Jesus, the promised Messiah. Indeed the promise of His coming dates back to the garden of Eden. The promise made there that the woman’s seed should bruise the serpent’s head was the beginning of a long line of promises and prophecies of the coming of Jesus our Say- ior. ‘The birth of both were then long foretold and anxiously hoped for. (2) Impossible in Nature. Again the birth of Isaac was im- possible according to nature. Abraham and Sarah were too old THE STORY OF ISAAC 117 to become parents. In describing Abraham’s faith Paul said “He considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, nor the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (Rom. 4:19). Here the apostle indicates that by nature Isaac could not have been born, either from the standpoint of Abraham (for his body was dead) or from the standpoint of Sarah, because of the deadness of her womb. All natural power had reached its end with them before the power of God was displayed. In this we have a fine parallel to the birth of Jesus who was born of a virgin without a human father and that by the power of God. Their births were similar in that both were impossible in human nature unaided by special divine power. Both were born by means of a miracle and the birth of one was no more a miracle than that of the other. ‘That both were beyond the realm of the ordinary processes is emphasized by the fact that God had difficulty in con- vincing each of them that she could become a mother. Issac’s birth, therefore, forshadowed that of the greater One who was yet to come. As he quickened the dead womb of Sarah, so He came to Mary who as yet had no husband and caused her to conceive and then went to Joseph her espoused husband and explained to him the mystery of her conception and the pur- pose of the coming of Him she was soon to bear. Here again we meet that vital teaching concerning the miraculous or vir- gin birth of Jesus. It is a teaching so vital to all Christian faith that we do well to emphasize it again. If Jesus was born as other men and not directly begotten of the Holy Spirit, He was no more than any one of us except in so far as by His own ef- forts He may have forged His way ahead of us. In that case He was not God manifest in the flesh, but a mere hero among men. If on the other hand He was begotten of the Spirit as the Bible teaches, He is deity and is to be trusted most fully as one able to save us. We must have a deep concern, therefore, that the people shall be led to believe rightly about His birth. (3) A Source of Gladness. Once more the birth of Isaac was to be a source of gladness to others. He was named Isaac, which means laughter and is indicative of the joy and blessing which he was to bring to his parents and others. But we should 118 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION notice that his name “Laughter” was given with particular re- ference to his father’s joy in him. In all of this Isaac reminds us of Jesus. His birth was also to be a source of great gladness and blessing to others and He too was named according to the blessed work He was set to do. His name, Jesus, signified that He would save His people from their sins. Both were to be a blessing to all nations of men. And not the meaningfulness of be- ing especially destined to the father’s joy. In Christ and in those who are in Him by faith or have become the children of God, we behold the precious joy of the heavenly Father. Here is our safety, our protection, our salvation. If we turn again to Isaac as a type we should observe that he furnishes one of the many double types so often misunderstood because of failure to see the double aspect. He furnishes a type of both the Son of God— Jesus, and of the sons of God found in all His children. There are in him three things: (1) Self-surrender, (2) the responsibility of sonship, (3) the recompense of obedience. All of this is brought out most fully in the story of the sacrifice of Isaac which we should now consider. 95. His Sacrifice. The incidents and teachings connected with this sacrifice justify our most careful study. It was a test of Abraham’s faith. God had told him that in Isaac his seed should be called and that he should be for the blessing of all the nations. Abraham did not understand this command of God, but he set out to the appointed place with the full purpose of carrying out the divine instructions. This he did because he believed that, if it became necessary, God would raise Isaac from the dead in order to fulfill His promise. 96. A Type of Jesus. On the way, as this father and son neared the place where God had appointed to test Abraham’s faith and devotion, Isaac discovered that they had the wood and the fire, but had no offering. He made inquiry about it and Abraham replied to him “Jehovah will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” (chapter 22:8). He spoke more wisely than he knew. For when Isaac was bound on the altar and his father was just ready to slay him, Jehovah spoke to him and stayed THE STORY OF ISAAC 119 his action. Then Abraham saw in the thicket near by a ram which in His providence God had provided! He then offered the ram, allowing Isaac to go free. Let it be noticed that the Scripture says that “Abraham went and took the ram, and of- fered him up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abra- ham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh; as it is this day. In the mount of Jehovah it shall be provided” (Gen. 22 :13-14). Now Abraham named the place Jehovah-jireh because of the act of God in providing him with a substitute sacrifice. ‘The meaning of the word must be taken in part from the circum- stances of its use as a name for the place. It may and does mean that God will provide for all of our needs. But it means far more. God had just provided a substitute sacrifice by which Isaac was saved from death except in type. From this blessing Abraham saw the universal truth of a substitute sacrifice of “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” (Jno. V:29). : | Here we have one of those double types which God uses to remedy the necessary defects in all figures used to set forth Christ and His work. .We must be careful to. let the whole les- son, as a type, comprehend all. that was placed upon the altar. (1) We see the only son of Abraham as a type of the divine sacrifice. In obedience to his father’s will Isaac willingly (for he was not just a small boy and compelled to be bound) became the burnt offering on the altar which indeed was a type of. the cross. (2) There is found the ram which God in His providence had provided. This represents the substitutionary fact and pur- pose of the burnt offering thereby showing that like the sin of- fering it has a double meaning and extends its purpose in both a Godward and manward direction. (3) Isaac is spared. In this we have the figure of the resurrection. The author of Hebrews discussing this matter said “Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence he did also in a figure receive him back” (Heb. 11:19). As a type, he was sur- rendered by his father and had himself submitted himself to death. Resurrection can restore him from the flames of the altar 120 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION and in a figure he was received from the dead when the ram was substituted. This figure of the resurrection is very important, for it is to the resurrected Christ that all the events that follow typically refer. It is from Jesus resurrected just as from Isaac who had been offered that all the world receives blessing. While the type is not at this place extended into a portrayal of the efficacy of the cross, the life of Issac after this is a wonderful shadow of our Lord. The incidents of the next chapters are more interest- ing. First there is recorded (chapter 23) the death of Sarah his mother. She died immediately after he was resurrected (in a figure). So did Israel pass away when Christ came ac- cording to the flesh and died and rose again. It was but a little while after Jesus was resurrected until the Jews at Jerusalem lost their genealogy and were scattered so that they lost their national identity. It is just here that the consideration of a bride comes in and Abraham secures Rebekah for him—a story of much significance which we must study a little later. 97. A Type of the Believer. Here let us turn back to con- sider our former suggestion that Isaac was not only a type of Jesus, but of us who are the sons of God. This is especially true as represented in the substitution of the ram for Isaac. Here we see Jehovah-jireh and come upon the doctrine of redemption or deliverance in Christ Jesus. In this position Isaac occupies the condition of the lost sinner, or, better, of a lost world upon whom the divine sentence of death has passed. He is ready to lose his life, and just as the lost are helpless, is utterly helpless to save himself, being already bound. No escape was possible for him unless Jehovah shall intervene. But this is just what happened. When all earthly hope was done, action was stayed by the word of God and behold there was found in a near-by thicket a ram already prepared for a substitute. Whereupon, Isaac was allowed to go free and the ram sacrificed in his stead. This all reminds us of the Scripture statement “I have found a ransom” (Job 33:24). God had provided a substitute sacrifice and Abraham in recognition of that fact named the place. This view of the substitutionary element of the offering well illustrates the redemptive work of Christ. When the sinner was THE STORY OF ISAAC 121 Nt without hope or help the Lord laid upon Jesus all of our infirmi- ties. He came and died in our stead and because of His death we escape death. Let us also hold in mind that as in the sacrifice of the ram, it was God that provided Jesus our sacrifice and that - without Him we must suffer eternal death just as Isaac would have died but for the ram that died in his place. This is truly the New Testament teaching of the sacrificial and substitutionary work of Jesus on Calvary. It has in it the very heart of the gos- pel truth—that Jesus was made sin for us and died in our place that He is “the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world” and that “by His stripes we are healed.” Here then we have all the elements of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross; there is death both as an acceptable offering unto the Father, and as a substitute for the sinner. The father was pleased and Himself provided the ultimate victim. But here is also substitution. Nor can we ever dispense with the doctrine of salvation by a substitute. Once more we have the resurrection without which all else is in vain. What group of words and thoughts. Death, the sinner’s hope; substitution, the means of the sinner’s release; resurrection, the proof of His complete triumph ; a liberated life. Isaac is alive and free from the death which threatened him. What a picture of all the important features of salvation is all this. His Marriage. 98. Abraham Secures Isaac a Wife. We come now upon the story of the marriage of Isaac (chapter 24). Abraham, his father, as was the custom of their time, provided for his son a suitable marriage. The details of this marriage are recorded in the twenty-fourth chapter of our book. Abraham had grown old and Sarah his wife had died. He now sends his most trusted and responsible servant to the country of his kindred to secure a wife for his only son, Issac. This servant after receiving strict instructions and after the most solemn promise that he would never take Isaac back to the land from whence he came and that he would not secure him a bride from any other than his own kindred, set out on his important errand. This servant was 122 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION a very devout man and all the time sought divine leadership so that God might, in reality, select the bride He desired for his master’s son. By a very simple circumstance he decided that Rebekah, the daughter of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, was the choice of Jehovah. He, therefore, secured an invitation to spend the night in the home and while there secured the consent of the damsel and of her mother and brother that she should go with him and be- come Isaac’s wife. He told them of the prosperity of Abraham and of his son and gave them gifts as tokens of the truth and sincerity of his story. On the following. morning she departed with him, riding on the camel which had been brought along for that purpose. Immediately upon their arrival at the home of Abraham, she was happily married to Isaac. Everywhere this story shows forth the simple faith of this most religious of ail the families of that ancient time. It shows how they attached to every ordinary matter of family life a religious significance and how they tried in all things to have the leadership and blessing of Jehovah. Moreover, it is all the doing of the father. Abraham saw that a wife was needful for his son and set about securing her for him. He prescribed all of the conditions, indicating what char- acter of woman she should be and whence she should come. He also sent his own servant to seek her out and sent along gifts that would indicate the sincerity of his proposal and induce her to accept the offer. In all this we have the exact figure of God the Father seeking a bride for Jesus. God initiates it all. He sends out His Holy Spirit and along with Him His disciples to plead for a lost world to accept Jesus and be saved. And what blessings He does bestow upon those who accept His offer and become the children of God by faith! 99. Rebekah’s Faith. The position of the young woman is also highly instructive. She is an absolute stranger to the man whom she is asked to marry. She knows nothing of his surroundings or his suitability for a husband except what she learns from the servant of Abraham who seeks her consent to marriage. She had not even been acquainted with the servant THE STORY OF ISAAC 123 who is making the appeal. Moreover, to accept the offer she will be required to go with the man to a strange country. She must give up both her own people—her loved ones—and all the scenes of her youth and must set out for another and unknown land. She must join herself to new people and make new friends. This is to cast into the one decision her whole future happiness and to risk in it her entire future interest and well-be- ing. It is an act of faith by which she involves everything and trusts it to one of whom she has only heard. Now how like a man becoming a Christian is all this! We must trust ourselves and all of our future to one whom we have not seen. Indeed, though not having seen Jesus, we nevertheless learn to love Him. How marvelous! We hear the message of the gospel—how he loves us and how He is prepared to save us from all wrath and destruction. We are shown also the working of the Father in it all. We are given evidences of the sincerity of Jesus who proposes to save us and are urged to accept Him. Like Rebekah, we must accept Him without ever having seen Him. Indeed, like her, we are never to see Him until we reach His home—until we reach Heaven where He is. It is then that we are to see Him as He is and be satisfied. Here, again, is the place of faith in the plan of human redemption—“The just shall live by faith’ (Hab. 2:4). By such an act of faith we show our own sincerity of purpose. Like Rebekah, we must rest every- thing on Him. ‘Then, too, by faith we honor Him who seeks to save us. We thereby acknowledge our belief in His integrity and in His ability to keep His word. We so fully believe it that we risk our destiny upon Him. That is faith. But that is not easy to do. It was not for Rebekah. Nor is it without hindrance. Her kindred sought to have her stay with them for a while. So are we hindered in our efforts to turn to Christ. Satan and the world will endeavor to delay us. There must be resolution and decision on our part as on the part of Rebekah. Others could not decide for her. It was her personal affair. She had all the responsibility, but decided. 100. Means of Getting Her to Isaac’s Home. It should al- so be noted that Abraham had provided a way to carry her from 124 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION her home to that of Isaac. The servant carried along ten camels — and she rode upon one of them as they journeyed back. Then, too, she followed the man. She not only had furnished her the means of transportation, but had a faithful guide to lead the way. This again is the exact situation with one who trusts Christ. We are not put upon our own strength. We are not required to fur- nish the means to reach Heaven, nor do we go to Heaven in our own strength. We are to be carried there. God has provided a sufficient grace and himself undertakes the whole task of bringing us safely to Jesus in our heavenly home. He also fur- nishes us with a competent guide who goes before us in the way. And note further that the same one who came in search to Rebek- ah was also the one who led her on her way to meet Isaac. He was well-acquainted with the way having so recently traversed it as He came in search of her. And what is more, God had exercised a providential guidance of him on the way to seek her. It is even so in the matter of our salvation. God’s Holy Spirit has been sent into the world to lead men to accept Jesus as Savior and, when the accept Him, the same blessed Spirit becomes their guide to direct all of their ways. 101. Wisdom of Her Acceptance. This is our great com- fort and blessing or our deep sorrow and final failure. How sad indeed would have been the spectacle, if by any means Rebekah had declined to accept the gracious invitation to become the wife of Isaac. She would have gone down in history as a momumen- tal blunderer. She would have been known as a woman who had an opportunity to link her name with all the highest things and for all time, but failed. Here would have been a mistake and a lack of foresight that could never have been forgotten or excused. In the same way every unsaved man has a chance to join his destiny with that of Christ and thereby with all that is best in time and eternity. And whoever fails to accept Christ as Savior will write his name in the eternal list of colossal blunderers. and can never through all eternity recover the loss which he will sustain thereby. But we also blunder and bring upon ourselves sorrow and failure, if we do not accept the means of Grace which God has THE STORY OF ISAAC 125 provided for our safety and support in our journey to our new home. Whenever we try to walk in our strength to do the tasks that are ours; whenever we fail to avail ourselves of the divine help offered us at all times, we bring shame upon ourselves and defeat upon our cause. It is not safe for us to discard God’s strength and try to walk alone. Futhermore, let us not forget our heavenly guide. The Holy Spirit is available for us and will guide us into all truth. And whenever we do not follow Him we are certain to suffer injury and loss. Rebekah had, so far as our record goes, no unhappy incidents during her entire journey. In like manner we as Christians may have a happy and prosper- ous pilgrimage here below, if only we will rely upon God’s bounteous grace and fully follow our divine guide. Whoever trusts Christ may be sure of a safe journey to His heavenly home. God, His Father, through His Spirit will see that we get there. 102. Her Reception by Isaac. The readiness with which she was received when she arrived is a matter for meditation. Isaac was out in the field and seemed to have been on the lookout for her coming. He at least discovered their coming immediately, and as soon as the servant reported to him, Rebekah was accepted and at once became his wife. There was not any trouble about her acceptance. In this there is much joy for us in our relation to Jesus our Savior. We will receive a ready welcome and will have no trouble getting in when we get to Heaven. Jesus under- stands all the efforts that have been made to win us to Himself and knows also all of the conditions and oppositions we face when we turn to Him. But everyone who shall make the great venture and trust Him will be welcomed when he arrives. The Groom will be glad to welcome his bride who has risked all for Him. And if Jesus welcomes us so will His Father and all Christians will have entrance into the everlasting joys of Heaven and that without any difficulty. Then let not the Christian be anxious. Jesus will not only be willing to receive us, but is anxious to have us there as is indicated in the last petition of His intercessory ‘prayer for us. There He asked the Father that we might be with Him and behold His glory (Jno. 17:24). 103. Another Thing is Important. She was not only re- ceived, but at once became the object of his love and a source of 126 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION comfort to him. And what manifestations of love to us we may expect when we get to Heaven! If He would do so much for us as He has already done and that while we are here in our weak- ness; Heaven alone can reveal the depths of devotion, which He will then manifest toward us. When we are finally with Him in His home above, He will no doubt give us tokens of His love more glorious than we have ever yet hoped for. 104. A Blessing to Isaac. Then, too, Rebekah became a source of comfort to Isaac. This suggestion, when we refer it to our parallel relation to Christ, thrills one’s heart with joy. What more could Christians want than to know that in Heaven we are to be a source of happiness to Jesus our Savior. Always the devoted Christian wants to bring honor to the name of Christ and for that we strive while here on the earth. We desire to be “to the praise of the glory of His grace” (Eph. 1:6). But to feel that we are needed by Him and that in us the joy of Jesus is to be increased, lifts one into the ecstacy of delight. One’s heart leaps with joy at the thought of being able to contrib- ute something to the happiness of Him who has done all things for us. One almost wishes that time would speed along and that one might soon come into the presence of the Lord and behold His joy as well as His glory. 105. All for Isaac. And now finally, let us consider that this whole marriage was prepared for the sake of Isaac. Rebe- kah secured her place and standing in the family of Abraham because of Isaac. She was loved along with Isaac because he loved her and thereby she became heir with him of all that his father possessed. Just so it is with the sinner who accepts Jesus. He becomes heir of God and joint heir with Christ. He is taken into the family of God and is loved and honored and respected because Jesus the Son is loved and honored. Abraham bestowed upon Rebekah the same love as that with which he had loved his son. And all the expense and effort put forth to win her was not so much because of her value or for her glory, but for the sake of Isaac. So it is with our salvation. Here we are again reminded that, much as God loves us and much as He did to |THE STORY OF ISAAC 127 save us, our value was not the main consideration. For the hope of the lost world is dependent upon what God has planned’ for His Son Jesus. Everything done for us is because of Him. We pray in His name and our salvation and preservation and_ future bliss are all for His sake. We shout glory to His name’ now and in the world to come we shall sing “Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” (Rev. 1:5-6). As hinted above, all of this occurred after Isaac was “in a figure” resurrected. It suggests how the bride of Jesus is now being prepared for the resurrected Christ. And the work of the servant (probably Eliezer) is fitting pattern of the Holy Spirit who came to begin His work after Jesus had died and risen again. ‘The gifts he carried and bestowed upon Rebekah. are as the “earnest of the Spirit” which we have now as the token of our Heavenly possession in Jesus. They are as jewels of the Father put on us His chosen ones. Final Scenes in His Life. 106. In the Land of the Philistines. The final scenes in the life of Isaac are very striking. ‘They have to do with his sojourn in the land of the Philistines (chapter 26). One at once recalls that these people later were the great enemies of Israel. At the close of the history of the Judges she is under captivity to them. Isaac is therefore in the land of the uncircum- cised, the unregenerate enemies of the Lord. It was of course only a “so journing” or “lodging.” It was only temporary and not a permanent abiding place for the child of God. In such a place there is danger. In such a place God’s child, though he do it unconsciously, will, always assume a false attitude with re- ference to the church. But still worse, He is likely in such a place, to commit gross and known evil. Isaac falsified about his wife as had Abraham before him. Being in a false position he became false. He denied his own wife and subjected her to shame. In this we are disgusted. It was both cowardly and base. But his wife was as we have seen, a type of the church and 128 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION pasha ost ical rama ci Mele A a PE TIS PIE SNES he proves false, as a type of Jesus her husband. Only a weak or false one would thus deny her, but Jesus, who is neither weak nor false, will never deny His bride (the church) and humiliate her. And we like Isaac, when we go off after the world, deny and disgrace the church and the Christ we represent. 107. Abraham’s Similar Conduct. Precisely this is what Abraham did when he left Bethel which means “the house of God” and went down into Egypt which represents a lost world (chapter 12:7-20). While there he did not have a single altar to God. He did not worship. He had to return to Bethel and begin right where he had broken off in order to be restored to communion with God. This is to suggest a right attitude toward the church, the bride, which is a royal priesthood whose highest purpose as such is to worship. And much the same is true of Isaac when he went down to Gerar. He gave up one well (a type of the word) after another until he came to Beer-Sheba which means the “well of an oath” and refers to the place of re- newed attitude toward the covenant of God. The scene closes with his altar at Beer-Sheba and with even the Philistines ac- knowledging that Jehovah is with the man of faith. This story of Isaac’s failure and final superiority is very in- structive. On the one hand it suggests (especially because re- peated by both Abraham and Isaac) a sin to which the believer must be especially prone. It is the danger of looking to the world and compromising our true relation to Christ and His church. On the other hand it shows how, when we come to the right attitude, God fulfills His promise “I will make them of the synagogue of satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee” (Rev. 3:9). Here He led Abimeleck and his people to seek Isaac’s friendship. 108. Lessons of Value. Taken together the story of Abra- ham going to Egypt and that of Isaac sojourning at Gerar with their sins while there brings us four lessons of value. (1) The trials of God’s people are about the same for all times. If there is THE STORY OF ISAAC 129 a famine for Abraham there is also one for his son Isaac. (2) All of God’s people have about the same weakness. Isaac when put under the same temptation falls into the same sin which his father before him had committed. All of this teaches us that we do well not to subject ourselves to conditions and enter places that we know to have caused good men to sin. (3) While Isaac lived among those people they hated him, which teaches us the lesson that so long as we live the low life of conformity to others who are not true worshipers, we reap sorrow for ourselves and fail to influence them for good. We thereby destroy the value of our testimony. (4) But when Isaac got to Beer-Sheba and took his rightful place as a worshiper, God refreshed his own soul and made him influential with others. Here we learn that the true way for us to influence the hearts of others is to properly separate ourselves from them. In doing this we assume the pro- per attitude toward God as His peculiar people and He in turn touches the hearts of others and moves them to follow us be- cause they see that Jehovah is with us. 109. A Warning. Another matter of interest and warning to us is the way in which Isaac persisted in desiring to see Esau have the place of authority in the family. God at the first had made His selection of Jacob to be the family representative and had said “The elder shall serve the younger.” In spite of this Isaac persisted down to old age in his desire to put that blessing upon Esau. Here is a fine illustration of how good and devout people often have great difficulties in yielding their will to that of God. It is often hard for us to consent to allow God to have His way with us and ours. But with all this Isaac is portrayed as a good man. He was quiet and retiring in nature, but lacked the force and energy of Abraham. He was, however, devoutly reverent toward God and wherever he went set up an altar and worshiped. He had great faith in God and was rewarded with a renewal of the covenant blessing. He was a fit type of Jesus in being an only son, in being fully subjected to his father’s will and in being a medium of divine blessing for all the world. CHAPTER IX The Story of Jacob Questions and Themes for Study. (1) What are the facts connected with his birth? 25:24-26. (2) How did Jacob secure the rights of the first-born? 25:29-33. (3) How did Rebekah assist Jacob? 27:5-17. (4) Was Jacob responsible for the deceit? 27:29, 20, 24. (5) Enumerate the blessings wished for Jacob 27:27-29. (6) What evil effect came to Jacob because of this deception? 27:41-45. (7) What dream and prom- ises and discovery about God did Jacob have at Bethel? 28:12-17. (8) What did this vision cause Jacob to do? 28:18-22. (9) What facts are given concerning the securing of his wife and children? 29:1-30:24. (10) What bargain did he make with Laban and how did it turn out? 30:25-43. (11) What excuse did Jacob give for leaving Haran? 31:2, 5-7, 13. (13) What covenant did Jacob and Laban make? 31:44-49. (13) Is there evidence that Jacob’s disposition had changed? 32:9-12. (14) What are the facts of Jacob’s struggle at Jabbok? 32:22-33. (15) How did Esau treat Jacob? 33:1-16. (1) What did Jacob do when he got to Bethel? 35:2-4. Jacob the Chosen of God. 110. His nature and Discipline. We come now to the study of Jacob who, as has been already indicated, was a chosen instrument of the divine will. His life is so interwoven with that of Joseph, his distinguished son, who soon became the leader, that it is difficult to separate them in the discussion. As a man, Jacob was clever and far-sighted. He was willing to employ any means, either honorable or dishonorable, to accomplish his purpose or to gratify his ambition. It took many years of divine providence to lead him to become fully submissive to the divine will and ready to depend upon God instead of following his own desires and leaning upon his own strength and wisdom. Like several other of God’s chosen leaders, the name of Jacob was later changed, and he became known as Israel. ‘These two names, Jacob and Israel, furnish us the key to all of his history. THE STORY OF JACOB 131 The long years of discipline were necessary because he was Jacob. They were the necessary years of righteous government which would chasten his soul and issue in rich blessings. They changed him from Jacob, the supplanter, to Israel who in his weakness had power with both God and man. They provided a holy discipline of God that in him bear fruit in a moral life. 111. Three Divisions of his Life. His whole life divides it- self into three parts. (1) In his own land. (2) Exiled in Padan- aram. (3) Returning again to his own land. These correspond to the three great periods of Israel’s national history. The first period seems to compare with the whole period of their inspired history as chosen people of God. He is particularly chosen ac- cording to the sovereign will of Jehovah. There is much of sin and lack of faith—much of divine blessing and chastening—in the story of this period. The second part—that when he was at Padan-aram—probably corresponds to the history of Israel since the dispersion. In all that time he enjoys no further or new rev- elation from God. During this time he is enslaved and trampled upon, but is nevertheless preserved and grown in power and wealth which bears witness to the love and care of God and illus- trates the condition of Israel in all of our period since the begin- ning of the Christian era. The third period in which he returns to his own land after growing into a large family suggests the final return of that remnant of Israel which is known only in prophecy. 112. The First-born Rejected. As has already been indica- ted, Jacob was chosen of God to be the one in whom the family blessing should be accomplished. He illustrates again the con- stant order of Genesis which is to reject the first-born. Cain, the first-born of Adam, was rejected and another accepted. Ishmael was rejected and Isaac chosen as the instrument of God. Here Esau the older was rejected and Jacob the younger granted the family blessing. Later on Reuben falls into sin and deprives himself of the birth-right in Jacob’s family, and Joseph became chief. In all the cases it seems clear that there is a human reason for the choice except in that of Jacob who, before his birth, was the elect of God. In all of it we seem to see in operation the 132 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION divine law “first that which is natural and afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Cor. 15:46). Jacob Exiled from Home. 113. Rejected Because Blessed of God. ‘The first incident in Jacob’s life that has to do with our purpose is his reception of the paternal blessing and the consequent hatred of Esau and his exile from home. ‘To fully appreciate this we must remind our- selves that he had been chosen of God for the very position which the reception of the parental blessing acknowledged. It will be seen then that he was hated of Esau and was forced away from home because he had received just what God had planned for him to receive. This is not to commend Jacob and Rebekah for their conduct in the matter, but simply to state a condition. God had said he should rule over Isaac’s house, that Esau should be subordinate to Jacob. Esau was unwilling to it and rejected him. 114. Illustrates Jesus and the Jews. In all this is a parallel to the way the Jews rejected and hated Jesus. He was appointed of God to be their Savior and Lord. But they hated and rejected Him. We_should note that it was their wickedness of heart that caused them to take this position. In this they are like Esau who is called a “profane person.” At the age of forty he married two Canaanite wives. This is the normal result of that profanity that could esteem his birthright at the value of a mess of pot- tage. By marrying the women of Canaan he disregarded the divine will and showed the evil condition of his heart. These Canaanitish wives fully separated him from the blessing, show- ing him to be unworthy of it. The forty years before this mar- riage may have to do with the period of probation and suggests that Israel had had ample opportunity and then fully rejected Jesus. She was therefore without excuse, because she might have accepted Him, if she would. 115. Secured His Family While Away. ‘Then, too, while Jacob was away, because of that hatred, he secured his family and afterward came back and was received by his brother Esau. THE STORY OF JACOB 133 In this same way the Jews refused to accept Jesus as their divinely appointed Savior. He departed and now, while being rejected by them, He is securing His Gentile bride. When the time is fully come the Jews will also receive Him. If this sug- gestion seems far-fetched, one needs but to read Stephen’s ad- dress in the seventh chapter of Acts to see how he uses the case of Joseph and Moses and others and shows how the Jews are doing Jesus as they have always done God’s messengers—first rejected them, and later accepting them, thereby arguing that -they would yet accept Jesus. 116. Experience at Bethel. If now we follow him in his wandering we shall find some instructive incidents. And first of all let us consider his experience at Bethel when he slept out in the open and saw the vision of the ladder. In this story he illustrates the position of a lost. sinner, a wanderer in a strange place, and the ladder illustrates the work of Jesus. It is a means of communication between the holy God who stands above it and the outcast sinner who lies lonely and heart-sick, conscious of his sin, at its foot. Jesus seems to refer to this symbolism when He speaks of the angels “as- cending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jno.: 51). Anyhow, Jesus is the medium through which God does communicate with us and by which we may reach Him. Moreover the sinner who sees Jesus as his Mediator between himself and God will find peace and happiness and hope just as Jacob did here. Just consider—a ladder reaching up to Heaven! How it pictures Jesus by whom God has come down into all the depths of human need and by whom He _also brings us up into His own presence in peace. Jesus is not only the way by which God comes down to us, but also by which we ascend to God and Heaven. It is no wonder that Jacob erected here a sanctuary of worship which became sacred to all the Hebrews for all the future. 117. Disclosure of Grace. Here let us observe the great disclosure of divine grace. Jacob was a sinner—a poor de- ceiver. And for the blessings that were to be vouch-safed to 134 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION him he had no claim according to birth. He had nothing upon which to stand either by reason of birth or character or practice. He had nothing upon which to stand except upon God’s pure, free purpose and sovereign grace. And just, on this account God’s message to him as He spoke through means of the ladder (Gen. 28:13-15), was one of grace in which He undertook upon His own part to bless Jacob. There was no condition or if in it. As Jacob lay there he was un- uble to assume responsibility. He was in a position of deep- est helplessness and need. He was alone at night in a strange place. Behind him was Esau threatening his life and all that because of his evil conduct; before him, he knew not what. It was a time for him to think on his sins and realize his dis- tressful situation. In such a position God gave him a revela- tion of the fullest, richest and most unconditional grace. Here, again, the ladder became a figure of Christ, because it was given primarily for the purpose of revealing to a help- less sinner the wonders of a divine grace. But grace does far more than to simply promise. It follows Jacob into all the ways of life. He did not, as we should sup- pose, learn at Bethel how to fully rely upon grace. He went on his old way bargaining for his successes. He still tried to merit his success. He leaned on his own plans and devices to help him out of every difficulty. Thus we find him trading with Laban (30:25-43), and when he is returning to meet Esau, he sends forward a gift—no longer relying upon God, but seeking by himself to appease his brother (Gen. 32:13-21). That God should have borne with such a man is proof of the marvels of His grace. It shows how. grace begins with us at the very lowest place and continues to follow and bless us in spite of our weaknesses. If then, we discover, after we have become Christians, that we still have weakness or even personal vileness, we must not let it destroy our peace. The blessings we are promised in Christ, like those given to Jacob in the covenant of the ladder are vouchsafed to us by the nature and purpose of God and not by our perfections. It is a covenant of grace and assures us that God will follow us THE STORY OF JACOB 135 with mercy even though we are imperfect. It does not license us to do evil, but does encourage us in our conflict with weak- ness and sin. While it is not primarily within our purpose to discuss the years he spent with Laban, having already indicated that it had a resemblance to the time of the dispersion of the Jews, it may be well to indicate that his experience there has much in common with our career and also that of Jesus. As for us, it shows how, while loving us, God in grace chastens us and how we most surely reap what we sow. He had been a de- ceiver and suffered terrible deception. The very names of his children became a permanent evidence of this time of humiliation. He was enslaved as well as an outcast and that in a country far from home. Jacob’s Return and Reconciliation With Esau 118. He Plans to Meet Esau. Another scene of deep in- terest to us is found in connection with his return to his own land and with his reconciliation with Esau his brother. He was still the same self-reliant and self-sufficient man he had been all the time. He felt that he could appease the wrath of his brother by means of his own kindness. He sent for- ward his servants to meet Esau and in the message he bore he calls himself Esau’s servant and Esau his lord. He is here at the same old game. He is trying to manage Esau. But it seems a long way from the revelation to God that we would expect him to occupy. After a while the messengers return with the news that Esau was coming to meet him bringing four hundred men with him. Jacob was greatly alarmed and began to make some plans of his own by dividing his com- pany so that at least some may be saved. And let us note that he made his plans without praying. He did not properly depend upon God. It is true that, after he had made his plans, he prayed for the divine protection. That is the trouble with much of his life and ours also. Our own planning and prayer to God do not often go well to- gether. We are apt to depend at least in part upon our plan when we should lean exclusively upon God. We may be ask- 136—GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION ing God to protect our plan when we should be seeking for God’s plan. And to show that, although he had asked God to deliver him from his brother, he was not satisfied to risk it, he continued to make other plans at once. He decided he could win him with a present. He would undertake his old trick of trading. It would be humorous, if it were not so serious, to hear him in one breath pray, “Deliver me, I pray thee from the hands of my brother, from the hand of Esau,” and in the next breath say, “I will appease him with a present’ (chapter 32:20). Apparently the last thought was the more important for him. He seems to trust more in a few cattle than in Jehovah. Here is an important lesson for us all—not to trust our own divices. 119. A Man Wrestles With Him. This is Jacob’s greatest sin and difficulty. He needed to be brought to the end of his own management and to learn how to perfectly and fully trust God. But he, like the rest of us, could never get to the end of his own plans until he came to the end of himself— to see his own helplessness. And this was about to happen to Jacob. When he had finished all of his prudent plans and had sent forward his present, the Scripture narrative says “Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him un- til the break of day” (chapter 32:24). This is the very turning point of Jacob’s extraordinary life. He was now alone with God and could hope to gain a true knowledge of himself and of his ways. And that is just what Jacob did while alone at the brook Jabbock. “There wrestled a man with him”. And note that it was not Jacob wrestling with the man, but the man wrestling with Jacob. This can not be a case showing Jacob’s power in prayer. It is very different for me to say I wrestled with a man and aman wrestled with me. In the former I would be striving to secure something from him. In the latter he would be trying to secure something from me. In this case the pur- pose was to reach or overcome Jacob and Jacob stood his ground and fought back. God was trying to show him how weak and helpless he was, but he held out against the divine THE STORY OF JACOB 137 dealing. He spent the night fighting God or His representa- tive. How significant! How dangerous! 120. The Broken Thigh and Jacob’s Prayer. Failing to sub- due him otherwise, God touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh and at once this thigh was out of joint. He found his strength gone. He was a poor cripple wrestling without strength. He now perceived that supernatural power had touched him and that he was perfectly helpless. He is alone with God now and seeing his strength all gone he turns for the first time to say “I will not let thee go” (Gen. 32:26). For the first time he learns the full meaning of prayer. Now he really wrestles with God “in prayer” instead of God wrestling with him to subdue him. He is clinging to God in an effort to secure the divine blessing. A new era has come in his life and from this time on he is a changed man. He is still bright and resourceful, but after this he is subdued and is serving the will of God. After this experience he met Esau in peace and went away assured of the divine favour. Here also, we see a man who had perhaps been long ago re- generated, but for all the long years had failed to know the joys of real prayer and of trusting God to make his successes for him. It took a great divine affliction to accomplish this ix him. Just this is the sad story of many of God’s childrea to- day. They live anxious and unhappy lives, constantly plan- ning and half-way praying, only to rise from prayer to try to walk in their own power. They have not learned to trust all to God. And. like Jacob, many of them must be brought low in suffering before they learn how to fully submit to the divine will and blessing, and before they can pray in a way to have power with God and with men. Concluding Suggestions. 121. Always a Worshiper. Here we leave Jacob only to see him again in connection with Joseph who becomes the more prominent from this point of the story. The rest of his life was full of sorrow. His sons frequently deceived and 138 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION took advantage of him as he had done his father and brother. For years he carried a broken heart because he thought Joseph was dead. Family disgrace overtook him and finally he came down to want, because of a famine, through which he found Joseph alive. Through all the years, however, after his ex- periences at Jabbock, he remained true to God. He is often found in the spirit and act of worship and often referred to the mercy of God that had been over him during his past life. 122. Significance of the Change of His Name. That in- cident at Jabbock when his thigh, the strongest muscle of the body and that which indicates the strength of the physical man, was put completely out of joint, should bring us a lesson of abiding value. When thus he was without strength and could hold only in utter helplessness, God changed his name from Jacob (the supplanter) to Israel (Prince of God). Jacob, the supplanter, shows the depths to which God’s grace will go after a lost sinner and Israel, a prince of God, shows the heights to which the same grace will exalt that sinner. From the depths to the heights is the result of the redeeming work of God. Let Jacob’s experience, therefore, encourage all the lost and all those who would try to reach the lost. We should note also that it was then—after his name had been changed and he had become a prince of God and had “power with God and men” 32:28 that he prevailed over Ksau—a fact which was not, however, revealed until after they met. It is the eternal lesson that, if we are to reach men, we must go by the way of the grace of God and let his power flow through us. CHAPTER X The Stories About Joseph Questions. (1) What caused Joseph’s brethren to hate him? 37:1-11. (2) What different plans did they think out and execute in their effort to put him away. 37:19-24, 28? (3) What means did they use in trying to cover up their crime? 37:31-33. (4) To what position did he rise as a slave? 39:1-6. (5) What led to Joseph’s im- prisonment and how did he fare as a prisoner? 39:7-23. (6) What skill brought him to the attention of Pharaoh? 40:12-15; 41:9. (7) How did Joseph interpret Pharaoh’s dreams? 41:17-32. (8) What did he advise Pharaoh to do? 41:33-36. (9) What tokens of Joseph’s appointment were given him? 41:41-45. (10) What provisions did Joseph make for the needs of the people? 41:48-49, 54-57. (11) How did he increase the wealth and power of Pharaoh? 47:20-26. (12) How did Joseph get to see Benjamin? 42:13-43:15. (13) How did he test his brethren’s love for Benjamin? 43:16-44:34. (14) What mes- sage did he send back to Canaan? 45:4-15. (15) What vision did Jacob have about the proposed move to Egypt? 46:1-4. (16) How was Jacob received in Egypt? 46:28-47:12. (17) What request did Jacob make of Joseph? 49:29-30. (18) How did Joseph treat his brethren after Jacob died? 50:20-21. (19) What prophecy did Joseph make be- ‘fore his death? 50:24-25. Matters in General. 123. The Story Familiar. More people are no doubt famil- iar with these stories than with any other section of the Old Testament. They are told in a style so beautiful and charming that it is felt by all. There is in them a literary power and unity that is remarkable. They are appreciated most of all because of their very great moral value. They are everywhere filled with ideals of integrity and truthfulness. The spirit of Joseph him- self is such as to draw one to him as a friend to a friend. He 1s always cheerful and uncomplaining and full of faith in God. adversity or mistreatment could destroy his ambitious purpose. 140 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION Nor could he be put in any place but that through the divine provi- dence he became so valuable to others that he was soon recog- nized and promoted. For purposes of inspiration and encourage- ment this section will reward a frequent review of it. 124. Principal Events of His Life. All the Material of the Biblical narrative may be grouped around the following principal great periods or events of his life. (1) His childhood, where we find hm petted and spoiled by his father, but ambitious and trust- worthy and yet hated by his brethren. (2) His sale to the Egyptians. Here we find him separated from his home and kin- dred and made a slave in Egypt. We are also shown his faithful- ness and the service which he rendered in such position. (3) _ His position as overseer. In this position he shows a remarkable faithfulness to his master and in pursuance of his duties met a very unusual and severe temptation, the rejection of which led to his unjust and long imprisonment. (4) His exaltation to the governorship of Egypt. This exaltation again was because of the blessing of God upon him and in order that he might serve the whole world in preparing it against the time of famine. In this work he changed the whole system of land tenure so that it was put under royal control. This story would also include his kind- ness to his father’s family and his provision for their preservation from famine. 125. Important Elements of the Narrative.. Before taking them up one by one it is well for us to remember several elements that belong to this whole narrative. (1) There are many sudden and striking contrasts. Joseph is suddenly changed from a pet- ted and spoiled boy of the home to a friendless slave in Egypt; he steps up from slave to overseer; he quickly falls from over- seer of all his master’s house to a capital prisoner in the dungeon; he suddenly rises out of prison from the death cell to the position of governor of the most powerful empire of that age. (2) Joseph is the hero of usefulness or of service to others. His suc- cess is never based upon a miracle, nor is a miracle ever used to promote his interests unless it be his interpretation of a dream. He is honored and promoted because of this value to others. He shows a fine business sagacity in all places where he is placed. His THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 141. promotions are won by his faithfulness and usefulness to those whom he served and never by means of armour or the conquests of power. Of all the characters of the Bible except Jesus, Joseph is the hero of human service. (3) The use of his position to advance the interests of others. This seems altogether out of harmony with the views of western students of society. ‘They would hardly think it right for him to so faithfully serve the in- terests of his master as he did while slave or overseer. They cer- tainly would not endorse the earnest way in which he promoted the interests of a heathen sovereign of Egypt by which he made the whole people permanent slaves. (4) The pathos and depth of feeling in the story. This is not surpassed in all literature and is especially manifest in the story of his relation to his brethren when they come down to Egypt. Pent up emotion tugs at one’s heart all the time as one reads of the anxiety of the brothers, of the fear of the father and of the burning affection of Joseph. The. spirit of forgiveness and the love of his humble kinsmen fill one with admiration. 126. The Story Typical. Holding all these in mind it is now our purpose to call attention to the fact that much of this is typical of New Testament truth. We should hasten to remind ourselves that, if it should seem unsafe to count it typical, it is at least illustrative of much New Testament teaching. Almost all of the details have in them valuable suggestions. Indeed Joseph is perhaps more highly figurative of the Redeemer than is any other of the Old Testament characters. We may see the attitude of a wicked world toward Jesus pictured, also His spirit of forgiveness toward the wicked. Or we may see both His suffering and His exaltation exemplified. Much that reminds one both of the saved and of the unsaved may be found running through the entire narrative. ‘These and others are the suggestions we are to follow. ! Heeding the suggestion above—that it may be unsafe to count it all typical and remembering that there is in it a two-fold type —the one having to do with Christ and the other suggestive of the interests and hopes as well as the trials of the people of God— let us first consider the narrative in a way to give prominence to 142 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION the typical and then in somewhat story form try to find the many particular lessons and illustrations that seem to be in the story. 127. The Strictly Typical Element. As a type the story divides itself into three district parts. (1) Joseph as a type of Jesus in relation to His brethren in ithe flesh (chapters 37-38). In this section several things are important. (1) We have a vision of supremacy (v. 2-11). He was a shepherd which marks him as a typical ruler (Ps, 23; Jno. 10). He was in company with the sons of the bond- maid, but was himself not of them. He was condemned or hated for three things—for his holiness (his separation from them), his testimony against them, and his dreams which announced his coming glory. All of this is applicable to Jesus in His relation to His brethren, the Jews. (2) He was sent on a mission of love to his brethren. His father sent him to his own. He went out from Hebron which means “company” or “confederation” and thus left the place of participation with his father. He went to Shechem meaning “shoulder” and signifies the place of subjec- tion to the yoke or the place of obedience. He did not find them at Shechem and went on to Dothan which means “law” or ““Gmperial decrees’”—the decrees of man. (3) In Dothan they plot to kill him. They stripped him and sold him—first putting him in a pit without water that he might die. The bloody gar- ment became the evidence of his death. When they raised him out of the pit and sold him, he passed out of their sight and entered into another stage of relaton. This is all typical of Jesus. His Father sent Him on an errand «of love and mercy to His own brethren—the Jews. He left His place with the Father and came by way of the place of subjection and obedience to where they had discarded the spirit of the law and had made the law void by their “traditions.” In that place they plotted His death and killed Him after which He arose and ascended out of their sight and has not come back again to the Jews, but is now fulfilling His new relation as seen in the next section. (2) Joseph is a type of Jesus in relation to the Gentiles (chapters 39-41). This point will be more fully discussed later. THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 143 Here it is important to notice that Joseph is brought into rela- tion with the Gentiles where, after a period of humiliation, he is exalted. And when Pharaoh exalted him he named him “Zephenath-paneah” which means “The savior of the age’ or “Revealer of secrets.” How significant is this that his name should so fully represent Jesus. He was and is the Savior of all the ages and brings to us a knowledge of the mystery of the ages. Joseph, already in bondage, descends into deeper bondage—into a deeper prison to prove that he was master of everything there. So did Jesus, after coming to earth, being born of a woman and taking the form of a servant, go down into death and there gain possession of the keys of death and hell, and the grave. Joseph in prison, by his knowledge of dreams, became the inter- preter of life and death, telling one man he should die and another he should live and showing Pharoah how the whole world was to be kept alive in the coming years of famine. So also Jesus brought life and immortality to light and became for all men the interpreter of life and death, so that now all the world must de- pend for its “providential blessings” upon our rejected, risen and reigning Christ. (3) Joseph is a type of Jesus in His relation to restored Israel. (chapters 42-50). The going of Jacob and his family to Egypt and the reception which they received at the hands of Joseph speaks of a time when the Jews who rejected Jesus will come back to Him. They will yet return to Jesus and have God’s favour. ‘They will have their place in the land of Goshen which signifies “a place of the brightest light of an earthly glory.” This will be further amplified in the general discussion yet to follow, Difficulty in Attaining His Ambitions. 128. Hated for His Dreams. We now come to a more general discussion and one in which there is no attempt to separate the purely typical from that which is only illustrative in nature And first of all let us consider the difficulty and opposition which he met in his effort to reach the position to which he aspired and which was purposed of God for him. To begin with we should recall how he had dreams of service to his family and of dom- inance over them. We should not forget that this was but his 144 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION heart getting a vision of the divine purpose in him. As Jesus said “I must be about my Father’s business” (Lu. 2:49), so he felt in himself a divine impulse to become God’s instrument. For all this his brethren hated him and often spoke unkindly to him. But in these dreams he had a source of inspiration for his whole life. He no doubt thought of them often while undergoing his hardships and at once remembered them when he saw his brethren come to Egypt for corn. ‘These dreams like those of many a child were but the early manifestations of the divine purpose in him. All this is very like the attitude of men to Jesus. God had sent Him on a mission of kindness and mercy to them but they rejected Him and opposed Him and at last killed Him. In all of the steps taken by Joseph and the paths he trod, he reminds us of the way in which Jesus suffered. Joseph had no friends, neither did Jesus. At every point Joseph was opposed and was compelled to suffer wrong. ‘This was true in the very act of ‘selling of him, and in the servitude to which he was exposed by the wife of his owner. For in this temptation there were the three ‘elements of the temptations of Jesus. ‘Thus opposed and tempted and hated, and in spite of an effort to destroy him, he finally came to the place of exaltation and power to which God had planned for him to come. And how like Jesus was all this! He was apposed and persecuted and finally put to death, but triumphed over it all and is now exalted to the right hand of God on high. 129. Faithful in All Things. And in the light of all this, this service and faithfulness remind one of the work of Jesus ‘Who kept straight to His purpose all the time, even as did Joseph. Moreover, Joseph is faithful in every place where he is placed and is of value to those whom he serves. All his success is con- stantly attributed to God even as Jesus gives God the glory in all things. Then, too, he went about doing good to all he touched, just as Jesus brought constant blessing to the men among whom He lived. He did not cease to serve because he was suffering wrong. Moreover in it all he did not complain or whine. He was like Jesus who, like a sheep dumb before its shearers, opened not His ‘mouth. He took it as a divine providence and resolved to be faith- THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 145 ful. And what is still more remarkable, he was altogether true to God. It has been said by some that there is not recorded of him that he did any wrong. More nearly than any other, therefore, he becomes a type of Christ in the perfect way in which he kept all of the will of God. And certainly he suffered because he would not sin. He is least of all worthy of suffering and yet suffered most of all. In this he shows us the suffering of Jesus, imposed because of the wickedness of others who were rebuked by His holiness. He Provides for His Enemies Who Now Accept Him 130. Receives His Brethren. In the next place, let us ob- serve those who opposed him and see how they, afterwards, came to accept his kindness and indeed acknowledge him in the very position to which he aspired and for which they hated him. He had indicated that he expected that a time would come when the entire family would depend upon him and look upon him with respect—even do him homage. For these expressed ambitions his brothers had sold him into slavery (chapter 37; 8, 19, 20). But after his long periods of hardships, he came to a place of power and plenty while his brothers had come to a place of want and helplessness In this condition they came to him and received kindness. He furnished them what they needed to save them alive and also secured them a good home. 131. Stephen Applies the Story. Stephen, in making his defense as recorded in the seventh chapter of Acts, uses this incident to illustrate the position of the Jews who had denied Jesus and crucified Him. Jesus came to them and made known to them His will and purpose to be their King and Savior. They opposed Him at every step and refused to ac- cept His grace, and what was still worse they killed Him. Now this compares with the spirit of Joseph’s brethren in selling him into Egypt. And they will now have to suffer for their folly a long period of spiritual darkness and then like those brethren will find it necessary at last to come back 146 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION to Him and submit to His lordship. It suggests the great and difficult Bible teaching concerning the rejection of Jesus by the Jews and of their final return to Him. It is certainly a matter of deep joy to hope that this race—the chosen peo- ple—will yet accept Christ and it gives to them the joyous message that, like Joseph, He will receive them with forgive- ness, and blessing. 132. Hope for Sinners. Here is also a message of hope for all lost sinners. Their sins were an offense to Him. They have despised and rejected His love and have done despite to His spirit of grace. God has proposed that all sinners submit themselves to Jesus, but they have refused to have the “Man Christ Jesus” to rule over them. And yet, He alone possesses the salvation which they need and it is a source of hope for all that He is still merciful. After long years of wickedness and rebellion the sinner may still come to our Savior and find the salvation he needs. ‘This is the heart of the Gospel message—that He still loves us in spite of our insults and that He will save us in spite of our sins. 133. Repentance Required. Another very interesting mat- ter is the caution exercised by Joseph to see that his brethren had repented and thereby to know that they were changed men. ‘This purpose accounts for his strange treatment of them on the various visits which they made to Egypt. At the time when they sold him to the slave traders, they did not care for the feelings of their father. ‘They lied to him about the condition of Joseph, and in selling him thus brought their father down low in sorrow. Joseph would know wheth- er they still had this same disposition. The plea of Judah for Benjamin, in which he pleads for his father’s sake, clear- ly revealed a different type of man to that manifest when last he knew them. This evidence of change was all that Joseph desired and he at once revealed himself to them and assured them of his love and blessing. In this same way Jesus does not accept and save the sinner until He can by providence or otherwise bring him to repentance for his THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 147 sins. He must change his whole attitude and outlook on life. But when that is done a life of wretched sinfulness can be accepted and saved in the provisions of Christ. This re- pentance must be so full and revolutionary as to involve a complete change of views and feelings and actions. We must fully turn from our sins to Christ and righteousness. Joseph and His Own Family 134. Secures His Family. Here, also, let us note that after he had finished his suffering and had in the providence of God come into his high position of honor and service, he was given a wife and grew a family. Rejected of his own people, he secured his family from others. In this he again illustrates the work of Christ among the Gentile nations. When rejected by the Jews, as Joseph was by his breth- ren, Jesus turned to the Gentiles and during the period of their rejection and sin He will secure unto Himself His Gentile bride. This is a suggestion of both joy and sad- ness. It is a matter of sorrow that the Jews denied Him and thus brought themselves into sorrow and doubt and also brought the curse of God upon themselves. On the other hand, it has turned out to be the peace and hope and joy of all the nations and we are all made nigh unto Him as our Savior. This is precisely the argument of Paul in Romans (chapters 9-11)—that the rejection of Jesus by the Jews and their consequent rejection by Him was a part of the plan of God for world blessing and that Gentiles are now blessed but that Jews will finally be grafted in again. 135. His Family Escaped His Humiliation and Shared His Glory. Then, too, having suffered and been exalted before he secured his family, they were not required to suf- fer with him. They did not enter into his sorrow and suf- fering, but into his glory. He made his struggle all alone, except as God was with him to bless him. As a slave, no human hand was with him. He suffered and that un- justly, himself being innocent. In the same way he was 148 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION cast into prison and alone suffered the wrong which his master’s wife had brought upon him. In it all he was true to both God and man and by the heip of God over- came the evil and was exalted to his place of high honor. After reaching this exalted station he secured his family. The days. of suffering were all over, however, and he was in position to give them the blessing of his riches and honor. There was no need for them to suffer for he could never be brought into that state again and would not send them to suffer thus. 136. The Christian’s Comfort. This is, for the Christian, a suggestion of far-reaching significance and filled with much of comfort. Jesus alone met and endured all the temp- tations of satan and then bore all the outbursts of the wrath of God. Aiter bearing all the suffering heaped upon Him by the sins of men, Jesus was exalted by the hand of God and made to have all authority, both in heaven and in earth. Now that He is thus exalted He is securing His spiritual family, who enter in with Him into the victory which He has obtained. Their destiny has been linked to His, not in the matter of His suffering, but in the results of His victory. How precious the truth that He should tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone! And how glorious the truth that we are to share with our Savior in all His elorious victory! And since He can never be brought again into His former state of humiliation and suffering, but is to continue in the uninterrupted enjoyment of His victory, those who are joined to Him as believers can not be brought back into the power of sin, but will forever enjoy with Him the great triumph over sin. If He be King they will enjoy with Him the honors of His reign. If He be Priest they will be of the priestly family and have all the values to accrue from such position of honor. If He has a glorified and perfect and eternal life to be lived forever in the pres- ence and favour of God, they will have a life eternal and a gloriously perfected life. How blessed it is to be thus united with the risen and glorified Redeemer! THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 149 Preparation for the Famine 137. According to Divine Plan. The work of Joseph in preparation for the coming famine and the method and prin- ciples upon which he used his means for the preservation of the people furnish some valuable suggestions. And first of all, God revealed to him beforehand the coming of the famine und gave him understanding of how to provide against its utter ruin. This is like Jesus, who understood the purpose of God and knew the danger to which sin was about to expose man and also knew from God what was necessary to man’s safety against that day. Here, then, Joseph becomes an illustration of how Jesus worked: in harmony with the will of God and under His instructions as He wrought out for us the plan of salvation. This puts the whole work of redemption under the supervision of God Himself and lets us see how Jesus could say “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me” and “to finish His work” (Jno. 4:34). 138. Preparation Complete Before Needed. Another thing that is noticeable is that the preparation was undertaken and completed before there was any visible sign of a need for it. That is to say, before the famine began Joseph had already stored up enough of corn to last through the entire famine. The whole preparation and plan was complete. We have had this lesson before, that the plan of human salvation was complete before man sinned. Some seem to imagine that man sinned and that God then, as an after thought, set about providing a means by which to recover man from his sins and losses. This view is very superficial and God-dishonoring and is also very hazardous for fallen man. It puts God in the attitude of uncertainty and makes Him subject to the whims and changes of men. Moreover, if that were so, when man sinned God was, for a while at least, without any means of salvation. It would make sa!- vation an after thought and rob it of its central place in the plans and purposes of deity. In that case salvation would 150 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION have been a genuine embarrassment to God and not a joy- ous undertaking to which He had set His hand. Then our redemption would not be a display of love but the relieving of a divine embarrassment. The Bible takes a very different view of all this. It tells us of man’s fall and then tells us how Jesus “stood as a lamb slain from before the foundation of the world.” ‘That is to say, God had the whole plan made and Christ was. already the Savior before the world was made. ‘There was a Savior before there was a sinner that needed salvation. Then God was never for a minute frustrated or embarrassed in His great world plan. Nor was there ever a moment of time when man had no way of escape from sin. There never was a time when there was no Savior to whom a sin- ner could look and be saved. Then, too, this makes the work of salvation by Jesus a part of the eternal plan of God. Redemption, then, was in the purpose of God in the creation of man. This makes the universe far more sacred. It also makes our salvation much more certain and glorious. If it was God’s very purpose we may be sure that He will finish the task He has undertaken. 139. Preparation Sufficient for All. Let us remember further that when the need really came there was enough for all and that its administration was all in the hands of one. Joseph, alone, of all men, had the needed food to keep alive the famishing families of men. But in the good prov- idence of God he had a sufficiency for all. There were no restrictions put upon the number or character of persons that would be supplied. Now this is parallel to the work of salvation in Jesus. He is the only one who can save us from the ruin of sin. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we may be saved” (Acts 4:12). Moreover, He has provided amply for all men. He made a “propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world” (I Jno. 2:2). The provis- ions which Jesus made on Calvary in atonement for our sins were ample to supply redemption for all men. This THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 151 truth furnishes us the basis for teaching the tidings of His Cross to all the people of the earth. For just as none who went to Joseph for bread were denied, so none who come to Jesus in the proper spirit will be denied salvation. He has enough for all and He alone has it. But it is freely given to all who seek it from Him. How the Provision Was Dispensed 140. Men First Used All They Had. It is interesting to consider how the people became partakers of his provisions. First of all, he did not open the storehouses to them until they had exhausted all of their own supplies. Having done that, they presented themselves before Joseph and made ap- plication for his assistance. Putting it otherwise, they came to want and then were granted the needed help. Is not this the condition upon which the sinner receives salvation from Jesus? He must recognize that he is in dire need. He must learn that he cannot save, nor even help save, him- self. With this sense of helplessness he can come to Jesus crying “Lord, save or I perish” (Matt. 14:30), and will at once find deliverance. To be fully conscious of our need of salvation is our very best qualification for approach to Jesus. Here is humility and here is the expression of trust in another. 141. Surrender All They Have to Joseph and the King. Another matter of interest in this connection is that Joseph made them give him all their money and all their lands. Before he would assure their food they must convey to the king all of their lands and when the famine was over they were all tenants and were required to pay as rent a fifth part of what they made. This is not a doctrine of govern- mental autocracy, or work salvation or salvation purchased by their own means. There is no indication that the value of the land would equal the value of the food by which they were kept alive. Not only did Joseph demand it, but they were so grateful for their lives that after the famine they 152 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION willingly paid the rent expected. In many ways this illus- trates our relation to Christ and to God in the matter of salvation. We do not purchase salvation, but before Jesus will give it to us we must surrender ourselves and all we have to the Father. Never again can we claim anything we have as our own. We are God’s and all we have is simply ours in trust as the stewards of God. Moreover, the saved sinner, like those to whom Joseph furnished food, is willing out of gratitude to serve God always after he has received His saving mercy. ‘Two points should be urged. First, that the sinner must give up all when he comes to Christ, and second, to urge upon Christians to carefully recognize, and on all occasions acknowledge, that we and all of our pos- sessions belong to God. We should not, then, use our powers of body or mind or spirit to promote our general pleas- ure or advancement, but for the purposes of divine glory. Joseph’s Own Kindred In Egypt 142. He Wanted Them There. With reference to Jos- eph’s own kindred coming down into Egypt and being lo- cated in Goshen there are some valuable suggestions. In the first place, Joseph wanted them there and spoke of them to Pharaoh, who in turn sent for them to come to Egypt. They were presented to Pharaoh and because of Joseph were given a permanent home in Goshen, the best place in the land for them. It is interesting, too, how Joseph presented his father and brethren to Pharaoh. There was in him none of that smallness seen in some, otherwise great men, who shun or are ashamed of their parents who are of less culture or other attainments than themselves. He loved them and was not ashamed of them before the king. There is hardly a finer quality of greatness than that which enables a man of culture or high and honorable position to feel at ease when he presents his uncultured kindred to his associates or to have them live at ease with himself. 143. Jesus Wants Us With Him. In this same way Je- sus loves us and wants us to be with Him. In His last THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 153 prayer for us in the seventeenth chapter of John, He prayed the Father saying “I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me” (Jno. 7:24). And when we come to Him He will not be ashamed of us before the Heavenly Father. He is also making ready for us and we are to have our per- manent place with God because Christ provides it. The only reason why they were admitted into Egypt and given a place there, was because of their relation to Joseph. In like man- ner, we are to find a joyous entrance into the eternal King- dom because of our relation to Jesus. We are to be saved, not because of our work or worth, but because of Christ’s worth and work and because of our relation to Him. Our salvation is “for Christ’s sake” and through the provisions which He has made. Here is our hope which is “an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast and reaches to within the veil” (Heb. 6:19). It is the oft repeated story of welcome. We will be as welcome in the house of Jesus as the child is in the home of its parents. Not because we are good, but because we are His kin. 144. Safe During the Life of Joseph and the Pharaohs Who Knew Him. It is most comforting also to recall that they were nourished there in perfect peace as long as Joseph lived and as long as the kings lived who knew and loved Joseph. His life and the life of those kings who knew him guaranteed their safety. If we are to parallel this to our relation to Jesus we shall find exactly what the Scriptures teach. It would mean that as long as Jesus lives we are to be sate in the blessings of God. If He retains His present position of ex- alted life in the presence of God, we will go on undisturbed in our spiritual relation to God. And this is just what Jesus says “Because I live ye shall live also” (Jno. 14:19). Then, too, as long as God, who “for Christ’s sake” grants us His favor, lives, we are secure in our blessing. In other words, we are as secure as the life of both Jesus and the Father. Our life is hid with Christ in God. What unspeakable com- fort is such a basis of assurance! 154 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION Some More General Suggestions 145. An Ambitious Youth. Now if we lap back into the story—the whole story of his ambitions and his faithfulness and usefulness—several other matters will furnish us with food for thought. His career will give instruction to all am- bitious youths as well as to all who have convictions that are disapproved by others. To the youth he illustrates the need of early ambitions and of a determined and/consecrated ef- fort to accomplish that purpose. Like Joseph, we may be sure that difficulty will arise and that we may be under the necessity to suffer. Like him, we may enter the pit or be a slave (if not literally, then in effect), or suffer imprisonment. But we can succeed, if only our plans are in harmony with the Divine One, and we will be faithful. If others ridicule our purpose like Joseph’s father, or hate us for it as did his breth- ren, we must do like Joseph, dream another dream on the same matter and tell it also. We must risk God to give suc- cess to all of our efforts. We must not fail to keep ourelves clean from all evil. Joseph was no complainer. He made the best of every situation and never grew discouraged. Such an ambition with such a spirit backed by such a faith in God will always win. } 146. A Trustworthy Youth and Man. We do well also to learn something of the trustworthiness represented in him. His father could fully trust him. This is seen in the fact of his reporting to his father the disobedience of his brethren in which he proved true to the family government and honor, and again, in the fact that his father could send him to see about his brethren on the occasion when they sold him into slavery. He could also be trusted as a slave and so made the best slave in Egypt. Even in that position he served the interests of his master and was thereby promoted to be over- seer. As overseer he was again found faithful. He would not sin when tempted by his master’s wife because it was wrong and because it would be to do his master wrong. When in prison he was equally reliable and soon had posses- sion of the keys of the prison and yet all was safe in his hands. THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 155 He went there by the unfaithfulness of another. He would however, do no wrong to get out. When he came to be exalted by Pharaoh he proved equally faithful in his posi- tion of high honor. The interests of the king never suffered in his hands. He never assumed to have any power not actually conferred and turned everything possible to the glory of the king. And what word can we say to emphasize the value and im- portance of one’s being trustworthy! It is the very stuff out of which all true success comes. It would hardly be pos- sible to over-estimate this matter. Many young men fail be- cause they cannot be true in a crisis and still more because they are unreliable anywhere. All other good qualities fail, if we cannot be trusted. But the man or woman who suc- ceeds in establishing a reputation for being trustworthy may have any sort of help needed from others to insure success. And if we pass over into the realm of spiritual service—or duty to God in matters concerning His kingdom, we must hold constantly in mind that God commits an ever-enlarging work to those who are faithful. No mental or other attain- ment will suffice, if this element is lacking. 147. Worthy Princples of Life. When tempted by his master’s wife, he gave expression to some principles that governed his actions and are suited for our adoption. He said “Neither hath he (his master) kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’ (Ch. 39:8). In this he indicated: (1) That he was unwilling to do any- thing wrong in itself. (2) That he would not willingly sin against God. (3) That he would not transgress the rights of others. Here are three important matters. The first has to do with himself. He would keep himself right—a clear conscience. The second has to do with God. He knew of God’s disfavor on sin and would not knowingly bring upon him- self that disfavor. The third had to do with others. He would not treat others wrong and thus win their disfavor. This points out the very highest principles of action. Keep 156 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION right with one’s own self, keep right with God and men. It meets our obligations, personal, social, and divine or religious, and makes us complete in every good thing. 148. How Sinners Come to Jesus and are Comforted and Saved. Turning again to the story of Joseph’s revealing him- self to his brethren, there is an interesting parallel to the way sinful men come to Christ. He deals with us through provi- dence and otherwise until we see our sins. When their souls passed through great and sorrowful trials they talked about their sin against Joseph in selling him. ‘They confessed their guilt and expressed the belief that their sorrow was a pun- ishment for that sin (Gen. 42:21-23). And later they said again that God had found out their iniquity (Gen. 44: 16). In all this they are becoming penitent for the sin which had so long been hidden in their hearts. When penitence had done its full work and they stood before Joseph and plead for the sake of their father, he revealed himself to them. In doing so he comforted them concerning their sin which was at that very time troubling them. He told them how they should not grieve over their selling him there, since God was to use it in preserving them alive. He comforted them in the fact that, while they meant it for evil, God meant it for good—‘“to save much people alive” (50:20). This is a doc- trine of divine grace setting their convicted consciences at rest. They had already sufficiently condemned themselves. They now needed their broken hearts healed. What a beautiful picture is this of the way in which a sinner is received when he comes to Jesus! One never comes until he has first become painfully conscious of sin and then he comes fearful and broken and submissive. He fully con- demns himself for having sinned against God and is con- scious that he is worthy of punishment. But Jesus receives him, not to condemn but to bless and save. He knows how we have been in the wrong and how regretful we are for it all and, therefore, on the basis of grace, He reveals to us love and forgiveness and makes us fully accepted. This is just the way we are saved. First the sinner takes his proper THE STORIES ABOUT JOSEPH 157 place before God as a sinner worthy of judgment and then Jesus takes His place as Savior and our redemption is made secure. It is also a part of the plan of mercy that God should bring any and all sorts of providences to bear upon us so that we may be brought to see our sins and turn to Jesus for life. 149. Resume. ‘l'aken as a whole, then, this story sets be- fore us one of the richest illustrations or types of the Son of God. Here we have His humiliation and rejection, their repentance and restoration, the union of the church and Christ and His glorious exaltation to a place of universal power. The whole story makes everything tend to the one purpose of exalting Joseph as the one chosen of God. The hatred of his brethren, the Ishmaelite slave traders, the wick- edness of Potiphar’s wife, the dreams of some prisoners and of the king—yea God controlled the seasons and brought on a famine—all to exalt the one whom men had rejected and to make manifest their guilt. In like manner, Jehovah con- trolled the currents of ail history and still controls them— whether men or angels or devils so that in His sovereign hand they mey.carry out His purpose to put all things under Jesus to whom all things must finally bow. And then shall He turn back the reins of government into the hand of God who shall then “be all and in all.” CHAPTER, XI. Seven Principal Men of Genesis 150. A Study of Sevens. In a brief concluding chapter let us now consider the seven principal men, in whom also we find the very heart of the book of Genesis. And first of all, the number seven is itself interesting. It is everywhere in the book and in all nature as well. It is made up of three, the divine number, and four, the human number, and signifies completion of fullness. There were seven days at the time of the restoration of the earth, six for work and one for rest, which never ended ‘or turned again back into creation. Here are seven outstanding men. If we look about us in nature we shall find the same mani- festations. In the case of birds most of their eggs require a definite number of weeks to hatch, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, etc. In some cases they lay a definite number of weeks and then set a similar number of weeks. Most of the animals carry their young a definite number of weeks before birth. All of us are also familiar with the cycles of certain diseases such as typhoid or pneumonia or fever. In such dis- eases we understand that the time of crisis will be on the sev- enth or fourteenth or twenty-first day. Or it will come the next day after the week-end which is the beginning of the new week. There are seven prismaic colors in light and even the leaves of the forests bear testimony to this seven-fold form of nature. The same God who thus in nature manifests His per- fections and beauties by means of sevens is the God who has made seven men here, as the chief persons of this book, reveal the great principles of His religion. 151. Other Types. There are, as has already been indicated in the previous chapters, many other persons and things that are typical or illustrative of great spiritual truth. These rep- resent both the true and the false in worship and life. Such SEVEN PRINCIPAL MEN OF GENESIS 159 persons are Eve, Cain, Lot, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, Rebekah, Keturah, Esau, Asenath and Pharaoh as well as Melchizedek. Such also were the light, the sun, the moon, the coat of leaves and of skins, the sacrifices of Cain and Abel, the Ark, the rain-bow, the flood, the smoking furnace and vultures seen by Abraham and the ram offered instead of Isaac. There are many others that in a small way have bearing upon these matters. 152. The Seven as General Types. But after all this has been said, it still remains true that seven men—Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph—furnish us with the very essence of the truth revealed in the book. The biogra- phies of these seven men give us a perfect picture of the divine life in the soul from the earliest beginnings of it to its full maturity. . They show us God as the great Life-giver-Creator and make life the keynote upon which all the rest is dependent. Following them in a general way, their typical or general value may be put down as follows: (1) Adam. Adam was the first of all creatures to possess spiritual life. He was made in the image of God and capable of fellowship with Him. Through him we are taught some fun- damental lessons concerning the beginning of spiritual life. He shows us that God alone can give us the divine life and that we begin to live that life when, through the entrance of God’s word, light comes into our darkened hearts and God comes to us with His provisions of grace and salvation. These revelations of the fact of our spiritual nature and of the possibility and value of fellowship with God lie at the very foundation of all spiritual knowledge. Without these truths there would be no place for regeneration and no ground upon which to build a glorious divine life (chapters 2-3). (2) Abel. Abel, together with Cain and their conflict, gives us an impressive foreshadowing of the two different seeds or kinds of life we find upon the earth—the divine and the satanic. The story lets us see that human life may be dominated either by God or by satan. It is a miniature picture of the two forces that we 160 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION constantly see at work in the world. These same two influences are also active in the personal life of every individual in whom the Spirit of God has performed the work of regenerating grace. The relation of the two men suggests how the flesh lusteth against the Spirit because the one is contrary to the other. And certainly we learn that, although the spiritual life may be one of conflict and suffering, it is more glorious even in death than the other is in life (chapters 4-5). (3) Noah. Noah passed through the flood by which the old world was judged and came out into a new scene and was accepted of God through the sweet-savour of his sacrifice. He shows us the blessed state of those who have passed from death into life. His experience is a good illustration of where salvation puts us when we become new creatures in Christ Jesus. In him we see how “old things pass away and all things become new.” If Adam shows us how the spiritual life is begun and if Abel shows us the difficulty of living such a life, Noah shows how safe that life is in times of divine judgment (6:1-11:9). (4) Abraham. Abraham shows us how we may live accept- able to God. By his life in Canaan he has gven us to see the nature of the life of a true worshiper who is also a pilgrim and stranger. He lived for another country than the one in which he dwelt and thereby illustrated how we are not to set our affections upon things below, but on things above where Christ is. He made known to us the consequences and fruit of a walk of faith in God whom we have received into our hearts and who is in all things pertaining to faith our pattern (11:10-21 end). (5) Jsaac. In Isaac we also have a type of the children of God. His life brings us a message of self-surrender into the hands of God the Father—a self-surrender that becomes the door- way into a life of peace and enjoyment such as surely comes to the surrendered soul. He shows that it pays to surrender even to the point of suffering or the sacrifice of life and that the great- est blessing comes to those who are so surrendered that God is looked to for all the plans and policies of life (22:1-26:33). (6) Jacob. By all of his varied experiences, Jacob suggests to us the processes of spiritual discipline. By these experiences SEVEN PRINCIPAL MEN OF GENESIS 161 he was changed from Jacob to Israel and shows us how God can by discipline change a crooked and deceitful trickster into a prince of God. He reveals the method of God by which love chastens us and deals with the old nature in us after we be- come God’s children (26 :34-37:1). (7) Joseph. The fullest of all the Genesis types of Jesus was Joseph. He shows us one who suffers for righteousness and not because of his sins. By going through this suffering he attained to a supremacy over all the world, and also became its greatest blessing. He was the object of the highest blessing of God who was all along his source of strength. He encourages us to live the noblest possible lives and shows how life can be of the highest good, even if it must endure much suffering and wrong. 152. Two Groups—Three and Four. If now we approach them from another point of view and if for the time being we omit from our discussions the double nature of the types, we shall find some interesting and helpful applications. And first of all, it is to be observed that the seven easily fall into two groups. ‘The first contains three, which is the divine number and has special significance in relation to Jesus and His saving work. The second group of four, which corresponds to the human number or world number, are especially valuable as typical of us as the sons of God and of the relations and blessings and obligations which are ours. (1) First Group—Three. In the first three we have Adam who represented Jesus as federal head. He projects a race in nature like himself as Jesus is the Head of a new creation—spirit- ual descendants who possess His nature. Then, there follows Abel, who in his death and resurrection as exemplified in Seth, who had_his spirit and promulgated it, shows forth the work ot Jesus by which, through death and resurrection, He wrought out our redemption and overthrew satan. He in turn is followed by Noah who saves those of his household from the overflowing scourge of God’s wrath. In this he shows how Jesus will at the time of judgment deliver all of those who have trusted Him for life. ‘Together the three made a complete picture of the work 162 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION of Jesus in saving us. He is our spiritual Head, the One who wrought out for us our salvation and the One with whom we are to pass through death and be delivered from judgment and wrath. (2) Second Group—Four. In the second group, as has been indicated, we are given lessons more especially applicable to us as the children of God. Abraham is a representative of faith. He shows us the value of faith as a life principle and lets us see what honor God puts upon it. This is especially seen as he is contrasted with men of no faith. One cannot fail in any study of Abraham to be deeply impressed with the way God’s favour attends a man who fully and obediently trusts Him. Isaac is the representative of sonship and impresses us with all the noble qualities of worthy sons, as well as with all the joys and blessings attendant therewith. We are impressed with his noble obedience and submission to his father, with the position of honor which he held as the heir of his father’s wealth and with the loving interests which his father manifested in his happi- ness. In all this we are impressed with a sense of the advantage which is ours because of our relation to God as His children. We are able to better understand the value of submission to the will of God and learn the beauty of loving obedience to Him. We learn also something of God’s love for us as His children and how He is interested to see us happy and to finally have us with Him. We are seen to be heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Jacob is a representative of discipline and service. Although the chosen vessel of God, he had much to learn. His was a life of activity. It was necessary for him to travel around and endure hardships—even privations. He toiled much and was a long time learning the deeper spiritual lessons. As a disciple he had much to learn of himself and also of God. His was a life of struggle and disappointment. In all of this he exemplified the life of a Christian who must deny himself and bear his cross. Joseph is a representative of rule or enthronement. In him are seen the path of humiliation by which he came to his exal- tation and the blessedness of his rule. We see in him one who SEVEN PRINCIPAL MEN OF GENESIS 163 rules for the good of others. Moreover, we see how it is the hand of God that exalts him. It all shows that the Christian is finally to be exalted and to reign with Christ on His throne and sug- gests that “if so be that we suffer with Him (Jesus) we shall also be glorified together” (Rom 8:17). 153. The Order of These Four. The order in these is also instructive. First, there is faith (Abraham), second, sonship (Isaac), third, discipleship and service (Jacob) and fourth, rule (Joseph). This is the true Christian order. One must first ex- ercise faith which issues in sonship. This suggests that we are the children of God by faith. It is in harmony with the state- ment “He came to His own and His own received Him not, but to as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name’”’ (Jno. 1:11-12). Here Isaac issues from Abraham just as be- coming sons of God results from the exercise of faith. Sonship leads us directly into a life of discipline and service. ‘The new- born child must be trained. It must know the mind of the Father and do His will. It is the work of training. For the Christian this began as soon as we were born again as the children of God. Such exercise, in due time, will bring one to the power of Christ. We will gain power over self and with God and other men. What an order this and how true—faith, sonship, service and reigning power! It is the path from earth and sin to salvation and Heaven. 154. Order in the Use of All Biblical Types. These studies suggest that the types of the Bible are not thrown in haphazard, but are collected together and arranged in an orderly and pur- poseful relation, which marks the work as divine. First, there are three that are especially representative of the divine work of redemption, followed by four that symbolize the steps by which this redemption is received and the way it manifests itself. Taken as a whole, the key thought of the early books is likewise orderly in arrangement. Genesis speaks of life and especially leaves Israel in Egypt as a type of man in sin. Exodus brings them out of this bondage and thereby illustrates redemption. Leviti- cus provides the altars and sacrifices as a means of sanctification 164 GENESIS—A STUDY OF THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION which follows our redemption or deliverance from sin. Num- bers indicates a walk or service and shows how the redeemed are to walk through this world. If we went further into it, we would find that the individual leaders in each book has a most intimate and significant relation to the great central thought of that book. Once more, we do well to note how much of the shepherd charac- ter is found in these men. In this they are typical of the Lord, ‘ who is the Good Shepherd. Some indeed, as Abel, were shepherds having their flocks and herds. Others had such flocks and also performed the act of shepherding other men less wise or less for- tunate than themselves. All of them were of the shepherd class. This is highly figurative of Jesus who leads and feeds and pro- tects His spiritual,sheep. In closing we can but hope that the reader has been introduced to the book of Genesis in a new way and that the fine unity of purpose which pervades the entire book has been discovered. It is also hoped that the impression has been gained that the entire Word of God has been found to concentrate its teachings upon the one theme of redemption in Christ Jesus. It is hoped that comfort has been gained from the suggestions of the nature of that redemption. A prayer follows every reader that not one shall fail of the blessings which that redemption has for us in this life and of the eternal blessedness which it guarantees to us in the future life. Wit} { OWE Ai { oN ¥ i apts ae ne ty (RE A ee eee, same et, Be ae eo ee Pen