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Taught by Nature, January 13
Genesis 3:14-17
But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air,
and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and
the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these
that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?
Job 12:7-9
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Although the earth was blighted with the curse, nature was still to be man’s
lesson book. It could not now represent goodness only; for evil was everywhere
present, marring earth and sea and air with its defiling touch....
In drooping flower and falling leaf Adam and his companion witnessed the
first signs of decay. Vividly was brought to their minds the stern fact that every
living thing must die. Even the air, upon which their life depended, bore the
seeds of death.
Continually they were reminded also of their lost dominion. Among the
lower creatures Adam had stood as king, and so long as he remained loyal to
God, all nature acknowledged his rule; but when he transgressed, this dominion
was forfeited. The spirit of rebellion, to which he himself had given entrance,
extended throughout the animal creation....
But man was not abandoned to the results of the evil he had chosen. In
the sentence pronounced upon Satan was given an intimation of redemption....
This sentence, spoken in the hearing of our first parents, was to them a promise.
Before they heard of the thorn and the thistle, of the toil and sorrow that must be
their portion, or of the dust to which they must return, they listened to words that
could not fail of giving them hope. All that had been lost by yielding to Satan
could be regained through Christ
After the transgression of Adam, God might have destroyed every opening
bud and blooming flower, or He might have taken away their fragrance, so
grateful to the senses. In the earth seared and marred by the curse, in the briers,
the thistles, the thorns, the tares, we may read the law of condemnation; but in
the delicate color and perfume of the flowers, we may learn that God still loves
us, that His mercy is not wholly withdrawn from the earth
[20]
17
Education, 26, 27
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18
The S.D.A. Bible Commentary 1:1085
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18