Prayer: Lord Jesus, we love You. We like to tell You how much we love You. You are our God. You are very God and You are very man. We love You because of this. In You we see God, we find God, and we obtain God. In You we also see man, a proper man. We worship You that today You are on the throne. How we worship You! We worship You as the exalted man on the throne of God. How we thank You that today we are preaching You, declaring You, and ministering You to all the needy ones! Thank You, Lord Jesus. We exalt You in our meeting. You are God’s exalted Head and also our Lord of lords. We give You all the glory. Thank You for Your redemption. Thank You for Your life. Thank You for all You are. In Your precious name we worship You. Amen.
The church comes out of mankind. To have the proper church life, we must therefore know the world situation. This situation is under God’s sovereign arrangement. I like Acts 17:26: “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (KJV).
God made all the nations out of one blood. Regardless of all the different skin colors, God made all the races out of the blood He created in Adam. One blood means one person, that is, Adam. In a sense we should not have concepts about people because of their skin color; all of us are out of the same blood.
God determined the appointed times and boundaries. The continent of America was discovered by Columbus, but it was not up to him. God ordained that this continent be occupied just by the Indians and that the rest of the world be kept in ignorance of it until about five hundred years ago. What was it that inspired Columbus to sail west? Could he have had a dream? When I was in school, I learned the poem about Columbus, called “Sail On.” The sailors were angry at such a seemingly endless voyage with no sight of land and wanted to turn back. Columbus kept telling them, “Sail on!” There were great men in the past. Solomon was the wisest of men. No one before Columbus, though, had the inspiration to reach the eastern lands by sailing west.
The time was before appointed. God made the appointment when America should be exposed to the descendants of Japheth. You remember Noah’s prophecy: “May God enlarge Japheth” (Gen. 9:27). Now the time was ripe for Japheth to be enlarged and to spread abroad. The example of the discovery of America is only one illustration of how the spreading of the nations, their boundaries, and their time are all determined by God’s appointment.
Since God made man in His image and made all peoples out of one blood, He surely took an interest in the territories the various nations would occupy and the seasons when they would be in ascendancy. Where the bears, lions, and tigers would be was not of much concern to Him; but man, made in His image and therefore like Him (like a photograph of Him), surely has had his seasons and boundaries appointed by God (see Dan. 2:21; 4:17).
After Adam took in the evil one and had his eyes opened to see not the good things but his nakedness, God came and called him: “Where are you?” (Gen. 3:9). Adam was hiding himself in shame and fear. He had covered himself with the dying fig leaves. God, of course, said He would discipline him, but He also gave him the promise that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head (v. 15). This was the way the serpent would be destroyed.
Four thousand years went by. Mankind meantime went further and further downhill. They went down to idolatrous Babel, trying to erect a tower to spread abroad their own name. This caused God to call out one man, Abraham, and to promise him that He would bless the whole earth through him (22:18). This promise, made midway in the four thousand years, was stronger and more definite than the one to Adam. Still mankind had to wait for the fulfillment.
Finally, the Lord Jesus came. God came! This time it was not in the form of a man, as in the case of His visit with Abraham (ch. 18). Now He came by way of pregnancy. He came by way of getting into man’s blood, man’s flesh. He stayed in a virgin’s womb for nine months and then came forth as an ordinary baby. He was born not in a hospital or even in an inn, for there was no room for Him there; He was placed in a manger. Thus God put on human nature.
Then He lived a human life for thirty-three and a half years. He was not in a rich family, nor did He have an easy life. At the end He was put to death by crucifixion. He was buried, and He arose.
Why did He take this path? All He went through was to accomplish one goal: to bring God into man by redemption and resurrection.
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