Chapter 335—God’s Glory Seen in His Works
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isaiah 6:3
.
As it came from the Creator’s hand, not only the Garden of Eden but the
whole earth was exceedingly beautiful. No taint of sin, or shadow of death,
marred the fair creation. God’s glory “covered the heavens, and the earth
was full of his praise” (
Habakkuk 3:3
). “The morning stars sang together,
and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (
Job 38:7
). Thus was the earth a fit
emblem of Him who is “abundant in goodness and truth” (
Exodus 34:6
); a
fit study for those who were made in His image. The Garden of Eden was a
representation of what God desired the whole earth to become, and it was
His purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers, they should
establish other homes and schools like the one He had given. Thus in course
of time the whole earth might be occupied with homes and schools where
the words and the works of God should be studied, and where the students
should thus be fitted more and more fully to reflect, throughout endless ages,
the light of the knowledge of His glory.
When Adam came from the Creator’s hand, he bore, in his physical,
mental, and spiritual nature, a likeness to his Maker. “God created man in
his own image” (
Genesis 1:27
), and it was His purpose that the longer man
lived the more fully he should reveal this image—the more fully reflect the
glory of the Creator. All his faculties were capable of development; their
capacity and vigor were continually to increase. Vast was the scope offered
for their exercise, glorious the field opened to their research. The mysteries
of the visible universe—the “wondrous works of him which is perfect in
knowledge” (
Job 37:16
)—invited man’s study. Face-to-face, heart-to-heart
communion with his Maker was his high privilege. Had he remained loyal
to God, all this would have been his forever. Throughout eternal ages he
would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, to discover fresh
springs of happiness, and to obtain clearer and yet clearer conceptions of
the wisdom, the power, and the love of God. More and more fully would he
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