13
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
January 1931
of work and rest; eight days, the completed week, begin ning and ending in rest. Now we meet something in tensely interesting. The Hebrew word for week means “seven” ; thus the Old Testament emphasizes the first and second usage. But the Greek or New Testament word for week is the plural of Sabbath, meaning “from Sab bath to Sabbath.” It contemplates an eight day period, our third usage, in which the first and eighth correspond. This is the structural or dispensational- scheme around which the plan of redemption is formed. Genesis 1 is its type, and we hasten to restate it in terms of the octave: 1. Creation (1:1, 2) 2. Light versus darkness (1:3-5) 8. Rest (2:1-3) A brief word is necessary for a fuller appreciation of this structural setting forth of the first chapter of the Bible. We have already noted the correspondence be tween the first and the eighth. It is the same law that we have in nature, particularly apparent in the -sphere of sound, as noted in last month’s study. Strike any note upon the piano; strike six successive tones from that, and we find the eighth to be identical with the first. It is God’s fundamental law of structure in nature and also in revelation. The progress from one to eight is indicated by the initial “darkness” (Gen. 1:2). While the first step to overcome this is God’s word, “Let there be light,” yet the darkness persists in the form of night recurring be tween each of the work days. Not until the pighth does the darkness disappear, giving way to unbroken day. Turning now to the six intervening work days, we learn a fundamental lesson in Bible structure by noting that they inevitably divide into two series of three each. In the first series God seemingly laid out His work; in the second He went over it again to bring it to its intended completion. Speaking in structural language, the first series is the framework of which the second is the finish. It is God’s way, to repeat for the sake of fullness, to complete that which otherwise is incomplete. For ex ample, the new covenant is a fulfilling of the old, a “filling in” of what is indicated and prepared for in the picturing of type and symbol, in skeleton form, in the old. Other examples will present themselves as we pro gress; and they will be found to follow the arrangement so clearly indicated on this first page of revelation. Again, the two series terminate in days that are identi cal in that they are what we may term double days. In them God did double work, as well as double inspection of His work. While on each of the other days He per formed a certain piece of work, on these days He accom plished two distinct things, and passed separately upon them as “good,” this being changed in the last instance, when man was brought forth as His crowning work, to “very good” (cf. vs. 10, 12, 25, 31). If, then, this ini tial chapter furnishes the pattern, in type, of God’s re demptive work, we may expect to find this important fea ture recurring in redemption itself. 3. Waters (1:6-8) 4. Earth (1:9-13) a. Separated from seas b. Made fruitful fStars 5. Lights-iMoon (1:14-19) ISun 6. Waters—filled (1:20-23) 7. Earth—filled (1:24-31) a. Creature life b. Man over all
The New Year The Old Year with its record Is gone forevermore; The New Year, full of promise, Stands waiting at the door. With high resolve and holy, With purpose firm and true, Let us go forth with meekness, God’s will and work to do. Then golden moments wasted, And days all dark with sin, Shall not so sadly/color The year we now begin. —Author Unknown.
G od in G enesis 1 We cannot leave this remarkable chapter without dwelling upon the place that God here occupies in His universe. First, note its opening statement: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This being true, certain conceptions of men are forever branded as false. 1. God is and acts. Atheism is error. 2. God is one God. Polytheism is error. 3. God is not “all.” Pantheism is error. (So is the “science,” called “Christian,” based upon it.) 4. God is sovereignly free. Fatalism is error. 5. Matter had a beginning. Materialism is error. 6. This is known by revelation. Naturalism is error. 7. Revelation requires faith. Rationalism is error. Second, observe its emphasis upon God: Thirty-one times in its thirty-one verses this name is used. Theorists have searched far and wide for an answer to the problem of origins. How and where did thing? .originate? The Bible knows no such problem. God is the Cause, the Originator, and Planner of all. The touch of His hand is upon each unfolding step of the world s existence. Third, notice its three spheres of creation: material, including vegetation (Gen. 1:1); animal (1:21); human (1:27). Each has the word “bara,” to create, to make out of nothing. Within these three spheres He “made,” or fashioned—a statement that leaves room for a multi plying variety of species, but not with power to cross Hus creative line of limitation. “Thus far and no farther” is the divine fiat which no one has been able to overcome. For this reason, evolution cannot find a single instance of transmutation of species, which is so indispensable to its theory. None exists in a world created and ordered as we have it in the first chapter of Genesis. _ _ This study has necessarily occupied itself with laying foundations. These findings will make possible for next month an informing study of the story of redemption, ranging through the entire Bible, and viewed from the structural standpoint.
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