HARMONY - GOD KNEW THE END FROM THE BEGINNING
[p. 3] HARMONY — GOD KNEW THE END FROM THE BEGINNING
Genesis 2:7-10; Revelation 22:1-5
There is one thing I think must strike the most casual reader of Scripture and that is God knew the end from the beginning. You see the first page of Scripture and the last are in perfect harmony with each other. We get the tree of life and the river in Genesis 2 and the tree of life and the river in Revelation 22. Now that shows me from the beginning to the end God has the same things before Him. God does not change His ways. His dispensations may change but God does not.
In Genesis 1 we have a picture of the work of God in connection with His counsels. You may say it is a picture of creation, but it is a wonderful picture of God’s work which leads right on to the rest of God. The beginning of Genesis gives a description of the work of the six days, and it ends with the sabbath of rest, and it is thus a picture of the end to which God is really working. He is working up to a certain point and that is to secure rest and satisfaction for Himself in the full blessing of man. Depend upon it, that is God’s object. In chapter 2 we come to the unfolding of God’s ways. God has been pleased to take certain ways in order to reach His end, and in the ways of God it was necessary that man, God’s creature, should be the subject of testing. I think that is very plain. When God made man He put him in the garden of Eden to test him.
People get strange ideas of what a beautiful place the garden of Eden was but, though that garden was a beautiful place, it was a place of testing and was intended to be so. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was there and it was [p. 4] forbidden them. It was the test of man’s obedience and confidence in God and the penalty of death was attached to disobedience. So that the garden of Eden, beautiful as it was, was a place of testing for man, and I suppose everybody can see that when man was thus tested he turned out a complete failure through disobedience, and thus fell under the power of sin and came under death as the judgment of God. And then when God was pleased to set up government and put the sword of government in the hand of Noah after the flood, man despised His government, and when God gave him His law he broke it, and when He sent prophets man evilly treated them, and when He last of all sent His Son, Him they rejected and crucified. And now that He causes His gospel to be preached in this world, what do men do with it? They resist the Holy Spirit and will not receive the glad tidings of the grace of God. God is testing man from the beginning to the end and the result of the test is that at every point man turns out a complete failure.
Now I do not know whether that is the conclusion come to by everyone here, but with that book in your hand how can you come to any other? At every part of man’s history he is an utter failure. The test began in the garden of Eden and is still going on, and that test is not the law but Christ. The question for everyone is, “What think ye of Christ?” They who believe on Him are the children of God, and the rest are accursed. You know there is a solemn scripture connected with the gospel, “If any one love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha” (1 Corinthians 16: 22). There is only one of two things for the sinner; if he will not have the blessing he must have the curse. And why not be blessed? Because they love the world and love to have their own way and will not submit themselves to God. But the end of this is death. Death comes in as the result of the testing of man. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was forbidden, and forbidden because man was not fit to touch it. It was too great a matter for man to touch, and God knew very well if man attempted to touch the question of good and evil he [p. 5] would involve himself in utter ruin, so God forbad it. Well, they disobeyed God and the result has been a world of sin and sorrow and death; and the world is established thus, as it were, under God’s eye today. That is the result of the testing of man. He has plunged himself, and we have all plunged ourselves into sin and death and Satan’s power.
Now let me say there were two things in the garden not connected with the testing of man; they had a place on another line altogether. The first was the tree of life and the second was the river. These had nothing to do with the testing of man. They were symbolical of what was in the mind of God; and I do not think it can be difficult in the mind of any Christian to see that the tree of life was a figure of Christ. I think it is equally clear that the river was typical of the Holy Spirit. So that on the first page of Scripture we see in emblem Christ and the Spirit as God’s provision for man.
I do not see there could have been much meaning in the tree of life for Adam in innocence. I do not think it could have meant anything to him. What would be the good of the tree of life to a man not under death? It seems to me the tree of life could only have its place when sin and death had come in, and not before. But it is very interesting to see that before man had come under sin and before he is tested, God had a provision in His own mind that was in store for man against the time when sin and death should come in. And I believe, beloved friends, the whole of Scripture is the history of how God has brought in Christ and the Spirit that there might be infinite blessing for man, and at the same time real satisfaction and rest for God. And I think we get the climax in Revelation 22. There you get the tree in the midst of the street of the city and of the river, and the river of the water of life flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. That is the climax. It is a picture of the garden of Eden; when worked out in all its blessed fulfilment you get the tree and the river again.
Now, if we see really the consequences of Adam having eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we shall [p. 6] find the thought of the tree of life very precious. And I do not think anyone would think much of the tree of life until he had realised what was meant by the other tree. You see sin came in in connection with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and death by sin, and not only that, but Satan’s power. People do not think of it, but it is a reality that Satan is the god and prince of this world. They think as they look at members of parliament and cabinet ministers that they are ordering everything as they like; but there is a secret invisible power behind the scenes moving everything in this world, and that power is the power of Satan. The Lord spoke of him as the prince of this world; and Paul calls him the god of this world, and he speaks of him as the ruler of the authority of the air, and the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience. A man thinks he is doing his own will, but he is not; he is doing Satan’s will and using the power of Satan. Now these facts have to be recognised. Sin has come in and death by sin, but people regard death as a natural event; it is the most unnatural event possible to happen. To call it the course of nature is an abominable lie and a libel upon God. Not a bit of it! It is the judgment of God upon sin. People do not die in the course of nature but under the judgment of God. “The wages of sin is death”. God never created man to be a dying man; death came in by sin. Sin has come in and death has come in and Satan’s power has come in. Now we are all involved in this matter; every one of us is deeply affected because sin has come into the world.
A young man once said to an old Christian, ‘I have found original sin in the Bible’. The old man replied, ‘Have you found it in your own heart?’ Now we have found sin in our own heart and not only in the Bible, and we have come under death and as children of Adam we have fallen under Satan’s power. Why I dwell on this is to show that before Christ could be the tree of life for us and before we could receive the Spirit which answers to the river, this terrible question must be settled, the question of sin and death and Satan’s power. These things must be settled.
[p. 7] Beloved friends, I do not know whether they are settled for you or not, but I know they are settled for God; and the way they have been settled is such that the full blessing of it is available for us. Christ is the tree of life, and He is that after settling every question that came in by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. How was it done? Take the question of sin; that is the first point. I found myself as a natural man in company with Simon Peter in Luke 5 crying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord” (Luke 5: 8). Mark that word “sinful”. How ready people are to say, ‘Oh yes, we are all sinners’, but how few have the sense of being a “sinful” man — full of sin. Now how is that to be met? Why, only by Christ: it can only be met by a holy sacrifice; and Christ, God’s beloved Son, came into this world, born of the virgin, born in holy flesh, that He might go to the cross and be made sin, and in His sacrifice put it away. Has it been accomplished? Yes, blessed be God, it has. There has been a sacrifice offered, atonement made, and the benefit of it is open for every sinner in this world.
And then take death; you see, death has come in through sin. Well, we could not meet it. It is no use talking of meeting death. Suppose you had all the medical men with all the medical science in the world: ask them if they can meet the question of death and set it aside? Why, they would laugh at you. But Christ has come into the world and gone into death and has tasted death for every thing. The Son of the blessed God, upon whom death had no claim, for He was without sin, and hence over Him death could have no power, for He was the Prince of life, He has come into this world and tasted death for every thing. What a wonderful thing! The very judgment that rested upon you and upon me has been taken in love by the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what about Satan’s power? There is the universal power of Satan. Has Christ been able to deal with that? Yes, He has. In Genesis 3 God says, ‘The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent’s head’. No one can meet Satan but Christ. You know there is a great deal of wickedness in the [p. 8] way people speak of Satan — even among Christians. People speak of him in a frivolous way and in a very light way that they would be afraid to do if they knew what a great dignitary he is. You know the archangel Michael would not bring against him a railing accusation (Jude 9). There is only one Person who could bruise the serpent’s head, and that is Christ. He came into this world and into the place of sin, and was there to bruise the serpent’s head. True, the serpent bruised His heel; but at that very moment his head was crushed beneath that victorious heel. Thus Christ has annulled him that had the might of death, that is the devil, and broken the power of Satan for ever. Beloved friends, that is why Satan is not god and prince in my heart and has no possession there, because the One who has broken his power has a place there; and that is the only way Satan is displaced. It is by Christ coming in.
Now you see when these things came in by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sin, death and Satan’s power were all met by Christ going into death, and now Christ in resurrection is the tree of life. Mark that, it is Christ in resurrection. It is in resurrection that Christ is really precious to a sinner. When Christ was on earth the question of sin was not settled, nor the question of death and Satan’s power. But after He had been to the cross, He came back in triumph, and it is really in resurrection that He becomes the tree of life.
As the scripture says, life and incorruptibility were brought to light through the gospel (2 Timothy 1: 10), through a risen Christ. Beloved friends, what a joy it is to think that Christ is the tree of life! I am not now burdened by the thought of sin.
I see Christ having come into death and been raised again by the glory of the Father; all the power of Satan was broken at the cross, and the One who broke that power is now known by faith in my heart as the tree of life. What a wonderful thing to see that risen Person! Christ is the wisdom and the power of God.
You may remember in Proverbs 3: 18 we read, “She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her; and happy is he that retaineth her”. Christ is the wisdom of God to meet sin and death and Satan’s power, and as I lay hold on Christ, I lay hold really upon the tree of life. It is such a wonderful thing to have a Person outside yourself! Many a true Christian is looking inside half his time, but if you begin to look inside you are sure to get dull and down in your soul and into darkness. It is a great thing to keep the eye on Christ. Christ is the tree of life, Christ in resurrection.
Now in connection with that I want to speak a moment on what Christ has brought in. He has brought in what I may call the conditions of life, and I think we get them in figure in Genesis 1, so that He might prepare the way to bring life into the world. It is very interesting to see that there are four conditions of life in Genesis 1. For instance in verse 3, “God said, Let there be light. And there was light”. Light is the first condition of life. I suppose there could be no question as to that. If light could be excluded from the earth for a very short time all animal life would come to an end, for light is the first condition of life; and that is the first thing in creation; and that is the first thing Christ brings in. There is no natural life apart from light, and no spiritual life apart from spiritual light, and Christ brings it in. He brings in the knowledge of God in grace, and that is the first thing I need as a poor dark sinner. What is the good of talking to me about man’s intellect? I want the light of God; and where is it? I find it in Christ.
We read in John 1: 4, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men”. And in John 8: 12 He says, “I am the light of the world”. And now He is risen and glorified at God’s right hand, the apostle Paul can say, “Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4: 6). Beloved friends, light has come in and has come into every Christian’s heart here tonight. It is the first condition of life. There is no spiritual life if no light. How do you know God? You know him in Christ. Christ is the image of the invisible [p. 10] God. You look at Christ and you see in Him the fulness of the Godhead dwelling in a Man; God revealed in a man and that man His beloved Son. Thank God for it. We are not in ignorance of God; He has made Himself known in His beloved Son. “No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1: 18). That is light.
Now look at verse 6 of Genesis 1: “And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it be a division between waters and waters”. It is really the atmosphere. God thus created the atmosphere — first light and then the atmosphere. I suppose every child can see that if there was not an atmosphere there could be no life. We require an atmosphere to breathe. Now Christ has brought in a new atmosphere for us to live in, and if I may so describe it, I should say the atmosphere of a Christian’s life is made up of peace and love. When Christ came into this world these two things, peace and love, came in His blessed Person. Divine peace and divine love came in for the first time. He brought the atmosphere of it. How wonderful that is! And He then introduced His disciples into that atmosphere of heaven. I have no doubt one thing the disciples knew while with Him was what it was to breathe the atmosphere of heaven. When the Lord asked them, “Will ye also go away?” Peter answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal” (John 6: 67, 68). He knew then what it was to breathe the atmosphere of heaven around that blessed Person. But then to have it fully we must go on to resurrection; the ground of peace was not laid until Christ died; but then every disturbing element was removed, every foe defeated, and the blessed Victor comes into the midst of His disciples with that sacred brow decked with the laurels of triumph and says, “Peace be to you” (John 20: 19). It was a new atmosphere, an atmosphere of peace.
What a wonderful thing, thus to be brought into peace! And by whom? By Christ. Who could bring a poor sinner like me into peace but Christ? And He has done it, blessed [p. 11] be His Name! And divine life and love, never known in this world until Christ died (I mean in its fulness), has now come. Scripture says, “Herein as to us has been manifested the love of God, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him” (1 John 4: 9). Love came out thus, and now the proper atmosphere for your soul and mine is the love of God. That is the atmosphere in which we can live. Christ has brought it to us. We have not to reach the love by some kind of effort. You may read religious books with this object. There is one entitled The Imitation of Christ written by a man who lived many years ago, where we may read a great deal about the love of God, and which puts people on the line of making effort to reach the love of God. I do not think this of any use; the love of God has been brought to us by Christ and made known to us by His death. And thus it becomes the atmosphere in which my soul can live.
We look now at verse 11: “And God said, Let the earth cause grass to spring up” ... . What we get on the third day is the grass, the herb, and the fruit trees, and these were intended to be food for man and beast. That is another condition of life. How long should we live if we had no food? And it is a wonderful thing to see how Christ has brought in divine food for us, spiritual food. And really everything that God has established in Christ is intended to be the food of our souls. Do you think we could feed our souls on the newspaper? I think some Christians get shrivelled up by reading so much of the literature of this world, and thus they lose their taste for divine food. I do not think anyone can enjoy the food of Egypt and the food of Canaan at the same time. If you relish the food of Egypt you will not relish the food of Canaan. In one word, Christ is the food of His people, and that is the food God gives to us, and He has sent His servants to feed His flock with it. Every bit of divine food is the ministry of Christ in some way or other. He sets before us that blessed Person for nourishment of our hearts in divine intelligence of Him. Is not that a condition of spiritual life? I am [p. 12] sure it is, and if a person does not feed on divine food, he can know nothing about divine life.
One thing more as to the fourth day, verse 16, “And God made the two great lights, the great light to rule the day, and the small light to rule the night”. That is, if life is to be sustained in nature, everything must be under proper control. Suppose things were not under proper control, suppose the law of gravitation ceased to act for five minutes, what would be the result? The whole universe would go to destruction. The created universe all depends on the law of gravitation, and according to that law, the sun rules the solar system, and everything is held in its place by the sun. The sun rules everything because all the influences that make this world habitable are under the rule of the sun. The seasons, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, are all under the rule of the sun.
Now there is something like that in the spiritual world. Christ is the Sun of the spiritual world. Nothing is right that is not regulated by Christ. It is a wonderful thing to see the place Christ has in it. God has put Christ at His right hand and He is there as the Head of all principalities and powers, angels and authorities and powers being made subject to Him; and Head over all things to the assembly, which is His body. He is the great Head and Centre of God’s universe, and until our souls come into their proper relation to Christ, we are lawless, because we are not under rule, and if we are not under rule we do not enjoy life. It is one of the conditions of life; there should be rule. We are all thankful in this country for a measure of wise and righteous government. That is why the conditions are so much better than they are in some countries.
Now, what a blessed thing to be under the rule of Christ. You see, Christ has died that He might deliver us from the power of the law that we might be married to Him, and that we might come under His control. That, I suppose, is why the wife is to be subject to her husband; she is under rule in that way, not a legal rule, but a rule of love. In the same way [p. 13] the assembly and the individual believer are under the rule of Christ; hence the first breath of spiritual life is expressed in the words “What shall I do, Lord?” (Acts 22: 10). That is a man coming under the rule of Christ.
These then are the things that come out on the first four days of creation: first light, then atmosphere, then food, and then rule; and the next two days are taken up with the introduction of animal and human life. God first made the conditions and then He brought in life. Now Christ is the tree of life because He brings in the conditions of spiritual life. He brings in the light of God, a new atmosphere of love, the food, and then the rule. It is all brought in in Christ, and Christ is everything.
Now we will leave that part of the subject and say a little about the river. As I said at the first, the river seems to me to be symbolical of the Spirit of God. You see two things in Christianity: the first, Christ is the object, and God never gives us any other object but Christ in that sense; and the second, the Spirit is an indwelling Person; that is, as we sometimes say, we have the Spirit subjectively to dwell in us, and so in that way our souls, being watered by the river, shall be a fruitful garden for the Lord. That is why the Spirit is given, to be the river of God in our souls, making us fresh and bright and full of spiritual energy towards Christ and towards God.
Now it is a wonderful thing that when Christ came into this world He was introduced in the same way in all the four gospels. In each gospel He is introduced to us as the One who baptised with the Holy Spirit. Is not that very striking? It is quite true Christ did not actually give the Spirit until He was glorified, but everything that transpired in the life of Jesus Christ was in view of this great fact that He was going to give the Spirit to those that believe. But the gift of the Holy Spirit is a thing many Christians leave out of account altogether. They hardly think of it. They know perhaps there is something about it in Scripture but they know nothing about it in their souls. I put it to every Christian here, ‘Do [p. 14] you know anything about the gift of the Holy Spirit in your own experience?’ I do not ask how many books you have read on the subject, or how much you know from the Scriptures, but do you know anything about the river of God in your soul? That is a plain home question. There is such a thing as the river of God in the soul of the believer.
As I have said, you find when Christ came into this world, He became the object of attraction. He was in this world an attractive object, a divine object, and souls were attracted to Him. We see two of John’s disciples follow Him as thus attracted, and they say, “Rabbi ... where abidest thou?” (John 1: 38). Then there was in the same chapter Simon, and then Nathanael, and in chapter 3 Nicodemus; these were all thus attracted; also the woman of Samaria in chapter 4. Beloved friends, God’s object in attracting souls to Christ was and is that they might receive from Christ the Holy Spirit; that they might receive from Christ the well of living water flowing in their souls. That is the river of God of which this river in Genesis 2 is the emblem.
Well, the first thing is to be attracted to Christ. I am speaking now to a company of believers and it is my sincere hope that every one in this company has been attracted to Christ. We have received a great many blessings as believers through Him. If we have forgiveness of sins it is through Christ; if justification, it is through Christ; if peace with God, it is through Christ. There is not a single blessing we have but we have it through Christ. But what is the effect that all this is intended to produce? It is intended to make Christ precious to our hearts. It has been God’s great thought for us to make Christ precious to our hearts so that our hearts may be taken out of the world and from ourselves by the preciousness of Christ. And suppose we are attracted to Christ, what do we find? That He baptises with the Holy Spirit and gives living water. He sends the Comforter. He says, “He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7: 38). Now I want every Christian here to see this; the gift of the Spirit is not a small [p. 15] thing, not a secondary thing, not a thing that comes in as it were by the way. It is the one great thing in Scripture, that we are drawn to Christ in order that we may receive from Christ the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Well, what is the effect of the gift of the Spirit? I must be very brief now, but I would like to leave upon every heart here the immense effect of the gift of the Spirit. We see in John 4, when the Lord was with the woman at the well, He says to her, “Whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever” (verse 14). The first action of the Spirit of God in our souls is to keep us, if I may so say, green and fresh towards Christ, to keep us from being withered. There are several scriptures in the Old Testament in which God speaks of the souls of the saints as a well-watered garden. Now God has a garden, and your soul and mine is the garden of the Lord where the tender plants are growing. And as in Genesis the river of God waters the garden, so the Spirit waters us now. Not only is the tree of life the object of my faith and love; but there is the river, God’s blessed Spirit, to water the garden now. How, let me ask, is your soul getting on? Are you dry and withered, or green and fresh, spiritually green and fresh? The psalmist could say, “I am like a green olive-tree in the house of God” (Psalm 52: 8). It is a great thing to be green there. But there is no natural tendency in you or me to keep bright and fresh towards Christ.
How often we find a young convert comes to Christ and the blessed God makes Christ precious to him, and he goes away perhaps from a meeting with his heart happy and his face shining with joy. He has made acquaintance with Christ, and he goes out into the world, and what is the natural course of things? Very much like a sovereign among a lot of lead bullets. What happens? Do the bullets become shining like the sovereign? Oh, no, the sovereign soon gets to look as dull as the bullets. That is the effect of the influences here. The spiritual shine is taken out. Thus we often see a young convert get dull, so that we can hardly trace any difference between him and a worldling. Now the Spirit is given to [p. 16] exclude the possibility of that by springing up as a well in our soul. The Spirit is thus the divine spring, the river of God to flow in the soul, to water the garden, to keep it green and fresh, a fruitful evergreen for God. Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to have the river of God in the soul! What a reality it is!
Perhaps you say, ‘I know nothing about it’. Well, I want every soul to leave this meeting tonight realising that the gift of the Spirit, as the river of God in the soul of the believer, is a great reality. And I believe if your soul accepts that, you will go away with an exercised heart and never settle down until God has made it good to you. You find in John 14 that the Lord speaks to His disciples for the first time of their love to Him. He had spoken before of His love to them, but here He says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will beg the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever” (verses 15, 16). The Comforter was given in connection with the fact that there were some in this world who loved the Son of God. These are the people who receive the Spirit, people who love the Son of God, and the Spirit comes in to maintain the heart of the believer in freshness of affection for the Son of God.
Is not that a wonderful thing, a blessed thing? It is a comfort to me that I am kept not by some effort of mine. If my heart is kept for Christ in the smallest measure, it is kept by the Spirit of God. The river of God is there flowing in the soul of the believer. I meant to have said more about this but I cannot enlarge, though I want you to see the great reality of it. In John 15: 26 He says, “He shall bear witness concerning me”. The Spirit is the spring of all testimony for Christ. If a man or a woman is in any way in testimony for Christ in this world, it is by the Spirit. And remember, the testimony of Christ in this world is a wonderful thing. I do not mean merely people preaching Christ — thank God for such — but if they do so really it is by the Spirit. But there is a far more effective testimony than that, and that is Christ living in this world, living in the hearts of His saints. Is not that a reality?
[p. 17] If Christ can be seen thus living in His saints in this world, with all those beautiful, heavenly, spiritual characteristics and graces that came out in Christ in perfection now coming out by the Spirit in His saints, is not that a reality? What brings out all this beautiful fruit? It is the river of God flowing through the garden of the soul to make it fruitful and to bring forth the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, peace and so on — that the moral traits of Christ may be reproduced in the believer through the effect of the river of God in the soul.
Then in John 16: 14 He says, “He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall announce it to you”. God has a wonderful world before Him, not this present world of Satan’s power. He has another world, different altogether from this, in which Christ will come out as the Centre and Sun. It is God’s coming world of blessing and glory, and the Spirit is going to be the all-pervading power of that world. That is what we get in Revelation 22, the tree of life in the midst of the street of the city of God, and of the river which flows out from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
There is a time coming when Christ will be the tree of life for the universe of God. Heaven will find its life in that blessed Person, and earth will find its life in that blessed Person. And God will gather together in one all things which are in heaven and earth in Him. God will bring heaven and earth to feed upon eternal life. And not only that, but the river of God will be the vitalising power, the refreshing power of heaven and earth. As the hymn says,
‘By the Spirit all pervading,
Hosts unnumbered round the Lamb’. (14:5)
The river will flow out refreshing the universe.
What blessed things there are to come, and Christians are in the secret of them now, by being brought into the knowledge of Christ, and brought into the current of the Spirit, so that they are in the knowledge of God’s mind in this the day of Christ’s rejection. How wonderful it is to see on the first page of Scripture that God gives us a thought of everything [p. 18] which is to come to pass in time and eternity in the tree and the river, Christ and the Spirit, showing He had everything ready for His own pleasure. And if God has effected anything in my soul it must be by Christ and the Spirit: Christ objectively, and the Spirit subjectively forming me in correspondence with the One I look at objectively. May God give us all to see the meaning of the tree and the river.