(Continued from p. 211.)

THE PRELUDE AND FIRST DAY.

VERSES 1-5.

With what sweet joy and rest of mind the Christian can step into the vast realm of creation-God's laboratory-and there investigate in the light of the words which open our chapter; all to be enjoyed in the sense of our relationship with Him, our Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ. What great things shall we not see when, in that eternal day, we view the new heavens and earth, and all the universe, in the ultimate end which God has purposed in His mind to give them!

First, then, we are told of the perfect creation, for certain it is that God did not create the earth as the second verse describes it. It is a subsequent condition; chaos and ruin having come in for some reason untold. Then follows God's work of transformation, in which we may trace with no uncertainty the main features of the spiritual antitype. Man was created perfect, in innocency, and well-pleasing to God, having a will given him to exercise for rule, under God, over the earth. He yields his will to Satan, and by reason of his transgression forfeits his place of blessing. The earth's condition, as seen in verse 2, is a vivid picture of man's thenceforth ruined state. Briefly let us examine the terms in which it is expressed.

First, the earth is "without form," or "waste"- a desolation. This is man's condition in his fallen state (Rom. 3:10-18). Then it is "void," that is, an unrecognizable ruin. The chief mark which distinguished man from all other creatures and made him a being in God's image, was the possession of a spirit; that by which, if in a normal condition, he holds intercourse with God. But now in a fallen state it is sin which controls, changing the affections and desires, and bringing in an entirely transformed character. Thus the spirit, which should control, is entombed under the debris of sin's production; the life is governed by the senses instead of the spirit; and thus is man become such a moral ruin that, compared with what he was when he came from the hand of God, he is truly an unrecognizable creature; for who, apart from divine revelation, would have known that he was made in the image of God ? The history he has made on the earth would rather argue that he was after the image of a beast. Little wonder that the "science" which ignores revelation, should formulate its dogma of evolution. So "darkness was on the face of the deep." The word "deep" in the original means "abyss," especially the main source of water supply. We know that the great seas are this by the operation of those physical laws we well know. This pictures the source from whence comes all that we have been looking at, -the heart of fallen man, that abyss and fountain of evil (Gen. 6:5; Matt. 15:19). What awful darkness-satanic darkness-is upon it; who can describe it ? (Eph. 4:18; Acts 26:18). What an awful revelation in proof of this will the great day of judgment be, "When God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." But we have the great power of transition now:'' The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters" (J. N. D. Tr.)-the brooding of divine love over the moral and spiritual ruin of the creation to effect transformation. From Abel's lamb to John, the herald of the Lamb of God, the True Light, we see evident tokens of the Spirit's work; though not yet the full in break of light. God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. So, at God's time, and in obedience to His word, the True Light came into the world and shed its light upon every man (John i:9). Not now a gleam only, but the full glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. That Light, full of grace and truth, pierces through the past to its remotest age, and reaches onward to the eternal day and the eternal city, for "the Lamb is the light thereof" (Rev. 21 :23). From Him emanate the perfectly blended rays of divine love-and righteousness, in which we read the full display of the character and mind of God-God manifest in flesh.

The light is pronounced good, and so the heavens are opened over the head of Jesus, that God may announce in the hearing of men His pleasure in His beloved Son. What a word, as the Son of God is coming out of the waters of Jordan-where sinners had been baptized unto repentance-pledging Himself there to fulfil all righteousness on their behalf ! How illuminating, how prophetic to the eye of faith! "Behold the Lamb of God! " "I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ:when He is come, He will tell us all things" (John 4:25). "I that speak unto thee am He" The True Light, the Teller of all things, the Revealer of the Eternal God in light and love.

The darkness and the light are now set over against each other. The soul that believes in Jesus as its Saviour and Lord, is called out of darkness into this marvelous light, translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of God's love, and given an inheritance with the saints in light. It is a new life, with darkness, death and judgment left behind. It is "the light of life" (John 8:12).

God calls the light Day, and the darkness Night. Those who have believed are called "children of day " (i Thess. 5:5) Therefore they are not of the night, to which those who do not believe belong. It is worthy of note that the Hebrew word translated " day " has the implied meaning of "forever" or "everlasting," and the children of the day are this eternally. The light of God's presence is their portion forever. That translated "night" really means a "twist." So, spiritually as well as naturally, the darkness of night is occasioned by a turning away from the light of the day. The children of night, the unsaved, are those who have turned away from the Light. Light has come into the world and they would not have it. They loved darkness rather than light, their deeds being evil. A type of this is seen in Gen. n:" They journeyed from the east"-the source of light-and the result was Babel. To a like end apostate Christendom is making rapid progress. All truth known, or light seen, while not acted upon, is a step toward the same end. Who can tell what the slightest "twist" from the light may mean for our souls ? A principle known and not maintained in the life means failure sooner or later. May God give grace to be faithful, for these are "perilous times."

The introduction of light thus means a new beginning. "And there was evening, and there was morning-the first day." "So if any one be in Christ [it is] a new creation " (2 Cor. 5:17). To be in Him who is the light of the new creation, is to have new life. By this first step in the light has dawned the first day of a new era for the soul, every stage of whose subsequent history in this light, is a further acquaintance with our Lord Jesus Christ and into further blessedness. Each evening tells He "was delivered for our offences," and each morning that He " was raised again for our justification "-of that resurrection morn which is to usher in the eternal day.

" Thou glorious Light of courts above,
Joy of the saints below,
To us still manifest Thy love
That we its depths may know." J. B.