MINISTRY IN LONDON (2)
David Hutson
Genesis 1: 26,27; 2: 7; 1 Peter 1: 18-21; Rev elation 21: 3,4
We sang, beloved, of the counsels of God in relation to the making of man (hymn 61). I noticed that our brother in what he has said to us, which I am sure I feel the need of for myself as to keeping near to the sufferings of Christ, referred to the counsels of God. Another has said it was in counsel that Jesus became a Man and died; no doubt that is confirmed in the scripture that I read in 1 Peter. But what was affecting me regarding the making of man, referred to in the hymn, was the peculiar place that man has in the creation of God. That may be obvious, but I believe it is good to see the distinctive place that man has even in the record of creation. There are the days which preceded, the first five days, when God, by the divine fi at, brought much about: "Let there be light ... Let there be expanse ... Let the waters under the heavens be gathered", and so on. But there seems to be this peculiar - may I say carefully - deliberation on the part of God in relation to man: "Let us make man in our image". It does not say, Let us make light, or any of the other things, but "Let us make man". There seems to be that peculiar place which man has in the counsels of God before us in those words. And then "God created Man in his image", and so on. Then the detail of it in chapter 2: "And Jehovah Elohim formed Man, dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and Man became a living soul".
But God was not taken unawares by the incoming of sin. The history in chapter 3 is well known to us. How soon God ceased to find His pleasure in man we do not know. When Eve was deceived by the craft of the devil and man came under the power of Satan and sin, how soon it was we do not know, but we know something of the feelings of God and as we sometimes sing:
Soon as the reign of sin began,
The light of mercy dawned on man,
When God announced the blessed news,
The woman's Seed thy head shall bruise.
(Hymn 366)
So we see in Peter, what we are often reminded of, that the second Man was in the purpose of God before the first man failed in responsibility. But what is so striking is that it says as to this matter, involving the sufferings of Christ which our beloved brother has referred to: "foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world". It struck me in a reference in ministry recently that these things in relation to man, and in relation to God finally securing man for His pleasure and glory, were in the counsels and purpose of God even before the material was created of which man was made. That is why I read in Genesis that He ''formed Man, dust of the ground". But before even there was any ground, before there was anything, before God created the heavens and the earth, before there was any material out of which man could be formed, yet the counsels of God go right back. And even then there was every provision for all that would come in in time, all that would come in in that creation, before its purpose was finished and new heavens and a new earth introduced. But even before it was created, everything was there in the mind of God, in the counsels of God and the purpose of God, and it all related to man and to that blessed One who would come into manhood Himself in order that all the purpose of God should be secured by those sufferings of which our brother has spoken to us so feelingly. I am sure that we should have these things more in our minds, the great place that man has and, may I say, the longterm view which God has taken, right from before creation, in view of securing man for His pleasure at such cost, as He knew it would be, for it speaks here of being "foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world". How we should value the word: “who has been manifested at the end of times for your sakes, who by him do believe on God, who has raised him from among the dead and given him glory, that your faith and hope should be in God" - that is, that we should be brought into a living relationship to the blessed God Himself who has had all this in His heart from before time was. We are given in Genesis God's first handiwork, for there is what He brings about by His power, as I said - "Let there be light" and so on - but there is divine handiwork in making man. He formed man and He built the woman.
In Revelation, I believe I am right in saying, it is the last activity of God which is recorded in relation to man: "And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes". How wonderful it is to think of the blessed God Himself at such a time, in view of every trace of the pathway of sorrow and suffering being removed, Himself personally wiping away every tear from their eyes. I feel there is no need for me to enlarge upon it but just to draw attention to it. What struck me was the activities of the hand of God forming man at the beginning, and then finally the last reference to His handiwork wiping away every tear from their eyes in view of their entrance into that eternal day of which it says that ''they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God".
May the contemplation of these things enhance to us the greatness of the thoughts of God in relation to man and enhance to us, too, the wonder of those sufferings to which our brother has drawn our attention that we might keep near to them. How needful they were and yet there in the mind of God before even time was in order that we might be blessed and brought in to the gain and present enjoyment of His eternal purpose and eventually secured for that eternal day. In the Name of the Lord Jesus.