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to be "above" them. To attempt to penetrate into the realm of the spirit before the right
time, resolves itself into witchcraft and spiritism, and to attempt to grasp universal
knowledge while still a babe is equally disastrous. It may include the ability to split the
atom, but may also lead to self destruction. Man will one day "know, even as he is
known", but he must be willing to wait God's time.
The same thing is true with regard to the kingdoms of the world. It is the revealed
purpose of God that, when the seventh angel sounds, the kingdoms of this world shall
become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (Rev. 11: 15). On the other hand, for
the Lord to have yielded to the temptation of the Evil One, to grasp this sovereignty
before the appointed time, would have been the same in principle as the act which
brought about the downfall of Adam. Where however man failed, in a garden of plenty,
the Lord triumphed in a wilderness of want (Matt. 4: 8, 9).
A knowledge of good and evil really comprises the whole realm of knowledge. He
who knows all good and all evil, knows all things. This was evidently understood in O.T.
times, as the language of the woman of Tekoah indicates:
"As an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad" (II Sam. 14: 17).
"My lord is wise, according to the wisdom of an angel of God, to know all things that
are in the earth" (II Sam. 14: 20).
Comparing the two passages, we see that "good and bad" and "all things on the earth"
are synonymous. Isa. 45: 7 is often misquoted, as though it taught that God was the
Author of moral evil. The passage reads "I make peace, and create evil", and not "I make
GOOD and Create EVIL". The opposition of "peace" and "evil" here fixes the meaning
we must attach to the word "evil".
There is a tendency with most of us to read the words of Gen. 2: as though they
emphasized evil, the passage reading: "the knowledge of good and evil", or even "the
knowledge of evil". We must remember, however, that the tree represented both good as
well as evil. "Good" out of place, and before its time, can be definitely harmful.
Marriage, for example, is "honourable in all" but that which is most blessed within the
limitation of the marriage bond, is itself a sin if entered into apart from those Divinely
appointed limits. Again we observe that "good" and "evil" are not things in themselves,
but terms which refer to the actions of particular people.
We will conclude by giving, in the form of a table, a list of some of the characteristics
that distinguish the sphere of mechanical determinism from that of moral accountability.