AN AWFUL SIGHT
‘And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually,’ etc.
I. ‘In these verses,’ it will be said, ‘ we see the results of the Fall. God made man innocent, and man fell when he lost this independent virtue, this innoceney of his own; as the first father lost it, all his descendants, by the decree of God or by some necessity of their relationship, lost it too; hence arose the need for Divine grace, and for men being made partakers of a righteousness which is not their own.’
Now, if we follow the Scripture narrative closely, we shall find that it directly negatives this statement. It tells us that God said, ‘Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness.’ Such words absolutely exclude the idea that man, according to his original constitution, possessed anything of his own. They affirm him to be good only in so far as he reflects that which exists perfect in another, so far only as he confesses Him to be the Good. God pronounced His creation very good, because no creature was standing in itself—because the highest creature, to which all the others looked up, himself looked up to his Maker and saw his perfection in Him.
II. The principle that man was made in the image of God is not a principle which was true for Adam and false for us. It is the principle upon which the race was constituted and can never cease to be constituted. Adam’s sin consisted in disbelieving that law and acting as if he were not under it. The Divine order has not been interrupted because a man refused obedience to it; it is only made more evident by that violation. Man has set up a self-will, has fallen under the dominion of the nature which God had given him. This very act is a step in his education, a means by which God will teach him more fully what he is, what he is not; how he may thwart the purposes of his Creator, how he may conspire with them.
III. The story of the Flood, as told in Scripture, is a most memorable part of the history of man, expounding the course of God’s dealings with him. He is grieved that He made man, because men were living wholly at variance with the law under which they were created. He uses the powers of nature to destroy those who had made themselves the slaves of nature. The righteous government which physical things obey is thus indicated. God’s repentance is reconciled with His divine, unchangeable will. There is a true and holy repentance in God, otherwise there could be no repentance in us.
—Rev. F. D. Maurice.
Illustration
‘The purpose of creation had been frustrated by man’s wickedness, and therefore God determined to destroy man. “God, seeing that ruin must come,” from man’s sin, “acted judicially, as in the first instance He had acted creatively.” The question would seem to have been simply this: “Shall sin be left to kill the human race slowly, as if inch by inch, without My asserting judicial rights, or shall I distinctly interpose, as I did in Eden, and bring judgment down upon iniquity?” God was bound to take the second course, if He was to protect not only His own dignity, but the integrity of truth and righteousness.” Divine forbearance was exhausted: “It grieved the Lord at his heart that He had made man on the earth.” This was the moral reason for the Flood—“righteousness was asserted, sin judged, goodness preserved, evil destroyed.” ’