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The nature of God Himself lies beyond human ken:
"The King eternal, immortal, invisible" (I Tim. 1: 17).
"Whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (I Tim. 6: 16).
The invisible God, however, has been made manifest to man in the person of Christ,
as "the Image of the invisible God" (Col. 1: 15).
"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, Which is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath declared Him" (John 1: 18).
In the context of both of these passages we shall discover that creation is prominent.
The visible creation manifests "what is knowable" of the unseen attributes of God, while
Christ, as the Image, makes manifest the higher spiritual qualities of redeeming love. We
may not be able to explain why God considered it wise to make Himself manifest among
lower orders of being, but we can rejoice in the realization that He has done so.
Moreover, it is not only to man that God has revealed Himself. We read of "angels" and
"principalities" learning by the Church the manifold wisdom of God, while in
I Tim. 3: 16 we read that God was "manifest in the flesh", "justified in the Spirit", and
"seen of angels".
The whole of the visible creation is one vast collection of types and symbols of eternal
verities. Creation contains the wolf as well as the lamb, the serpent as well as the dove,
just as in the invisible world we have their counterparts, good and evil. The "heavenly
things" are the "true", while the earthly things, "made with hands", are but shadows and
types (Heb. 9:). The heavenly realities belong to the invisible and eternal creation,
whereas the earthly visible things are destined to pass away when the great probation is
over.
#22.
The "dust of the ground" and the "living soul".
(Gen. 2: 7 and 1: 29).
pp. 191 - 195
Having dealt briefly with the question of moral accountability and its bearing upon
"sin" and other related themes, we come next to a brief consideration of the constitution
of man, with particular reference to the body. At his original creation man was given a
body, made of the "dust of the ground", and even in the resurrection state a body will still
be a necessity. We are rather apt to speak slightingly of the body because of its
association with sin, but we should always remember that in itself it is a wonderful part
of God's creation.
We are fully aware that the prime purpose of The Berean Expositor is the exposition
of the Word, and that many related subjects of interest in themselves must therefore
necessarily be excluded. In this series, however, we are purposely allowing ourselves a