Mackay, Harold G: The Work Days Of God 15 ~ Resurr.- Msg.Incomplete

Verse nine. Genesis chapter one verse nine. And God said, let the waters under the heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. And God called the dry land earth, and the gathering together of the waters called he seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit whose seed is in itself after his kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. I'm, uh, quite pleased in speaking personally with some of you, uh, to feel encouraged that you are beginning to grasp, uh, what I've been trying to set before you in connection with these two series of days, the first, second, and third forming the first series, fourth, fifth, and sixth, the, uh, second series. Each one of these series bringing before us, uh, the progressive work of God. First of all, informing that which had been devastated by sin, the judgment that followed sin, and then in filling that which he had fashioned according to his purpose and plan. I say I'm encouraged that we're able to grasp that because I believe that is really the key to, uh, understanding and enjoying, uh, some of the precious truths that we have in these work days of God. Naturally, we're just skimming over the surface. I couldn't help but think again today what a wonderful thing it would be if those who had been, uh, instructed in these various areas of scientific research, if they were but, as thank God some are, humble believers in the Word of God, bringing their, uh, human learning into subjection to the Spirit of God, and thus, uh, being able to enter into the enjoyment of the many precious truths that are hidden in the simple but profound words that we have in this chapter. Now, this morning we began, as you know, those of you who are able to be with us, and we do appreciate the, uh, large numbers that have been able to come out in the morning. Uh, we know it's impossible for some. We know it's with real difficulty that others are able to attend, and we do appreciate it very much. You know that this morning we began the study of this third day, and we began at the very simplest of all things, considering the law first mentioned as we find it in our Bible, particularly as it has reference to this, uh, third day, bringing before us, as it does so frequently throughout the remainder of the scriptures, the great truth of resurrection. We saw God speaking on this third day. Already, as we have seen, light had been brought into that dark scene. And, uh, then the firmament had been placed in such a way as to divide between the waters above and below the firmament, thus providing an atmosphere in which life could exist. Now, as we move on toward the consummation of that first phase of God's great work in creation, as he prepares the stage for the drama of redemption from sin, uh, we see him here speaking again and causing the waters that are under the firmament to be drawn together into one place. And, uh, those gatherings of waters, we're told, were called by God seas. We were thinking a little of the striking fact that while, uh, contemporary knowledge of that day, uh, had no conception of the fact that there were a number of great oceans, great seas, bodies of water, uh, on the globe. And yet, although there were many, they imagining there was just one, that all of these had one continuous bed, so that the scripture is absolutely accurate when it says, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place. We're remarking how, uh, what an indication of the guidance of the Spirit of God in his inerrancy of the writer here, the human writer, to record that which was quite unknown and absolutely contrary to the, uh, prevailing ideas, uh, in Moses' day. And, uh, with the gathering together of these waters into one place, we have what we can, uh, call the rising of the land from beneath those waters. Uh, we, of course, made reference to the fact this morning that in speaking of the rising of the land, we're not speaking with absolute accuracy, any more than when we speak of the rising of the sun. But we're speaking of that as it appears, or would appear, to a human observer. The waters gathering together into one place expose the land, and thus God brought into, uh, a position where they could be occupied, that dry land on which there is going to be carried out this great work of man's creation, man's fall, and man's redemption. There are many other things in the natural sphere, uh, that we might have looked at in connection with this, but I do not want to be too occupied with that, simply to drop a few suggestions here and there that might be followed up by those who, uh, enjoy such studies, all of which, but manifesting the wisdom and the power, the omnipotence, the omniscience of our great God, who is the creator of all things. Isn't it remarkable that land that has been, that had been submerged, possibly for millions of years? We have no way of knowing, but certainly that which had been submerged under this water for some length of time. Isn't it amazing that twice over God calls it dry? Now, uh, if you clear land, you do right well if it dries out in quite some time. But here is land that has been submerged, I repeat, it could be for millions of years, during that time when the judgment of God lay on that which evidently had been the scene of angelic rebellion against God. But here it is, and as God caused the water to, uh, uh, flow together into one place, the dry land appears, and that's exactly the way it is spoken of, as twice over, as dry land. Now, that isn't the only place in the scripture that we have that, uh, uh, apparently paradoxical, uh, condition. You remember when God brought his people Israel out of Egypt? You remember that he, uh, led them to the Red Sea, and it looked, of course, as though they were hemmed in in such a way that they were just going to be slaughtered by the pursuing armies of Pharaoh. And then we're all familiar with the miracle that God performed there at the Red Sea, and with the uplifting of the rod of God in the hand of Moses, that mighty miracle took place, and the, uh, uh, waters rolled back, and they dragged their feet through the mud and made it to the other side. Is that what your Bible says? Mine doesn't. They went through on dry land. Once again reminding us of the mighty, amazing power of our God. For the God who thus can work in the natural sphere, contrary to all the laws of nature, which are under his absolute control, is the same God who works in a mighty, miraculous way in the spiritual realm. Is it necessary, as it were, for you and me to walk on dry land? And God can make it dry. And distinctly says they went through on dry land. I remember when I was much younger than I am now, one of the leading liberal preachers of America, uh, went over to Palestine, and he made a great discovery, and he came back with the explanation that we'd all been waiting breathlessly for as to just how the, uh, the armies of Israel were able to go through the Red Sea. Of course, it was utterly ridiculous to imagine that God could and would open up a way for it, so there must be some explanation. Well, he discovered on that momentous trip that he made that, uh, in the northern part of the Red Sea, that the water was very shallow. In fact, it, the proper name was not really the Red Sea, it was the Reedy Sea, simply because it was so shallow that the reeds were standing all over, just as sometimes here in the lake, when the water is down, you see the, uh, grass out there in the water. I discovered when I came this time, my lot is not near as big as I thought it was. I thought I earned a- owned a way out there in Florida. I discovered that, uh, if I did, I'd better get a bathing suit, uh, as the water has come up, although I'm sure we'd all rather see the lake up like that than have a few more, uh, yards of, uh, land. But that was the tremendous discovery that he made, and of course it was very simple how they got across. The wind just happened to be blowing that way, you see, and it blew this shallow water, uh, away, and they were able to make it across. So when he arrived back in New York, his discovery was heralded in the liberal papers, to the great delight of the faithful, his faithful. Someone was unkind enough, after this earth-shattering revelation had been made, someone was unkind enough to ask, well, if the water was that shallow, how did it drown the Egyptian soldiers when they came back again? You see, unbelief is always ridiculous, and if you just give it enough rope, it'll hang itself. A simple fact, of course, was that God opened up the way, just as God here caused the waters to gather together into one place, and the dry land appeared. Now here, and to me, it's thrilling to think of it and to visualize it, even though I've been familiar with these verses from childhood days. It's thrilling to me to see God progressing step by step. And now, as it were, up from under the waters, speaking figuratively, there rises the land on which life is going to appear. This, we see immediately, must take place if there is going to be life. Now, from that point, we can take our studies in two directions, and I'd like to go in both before we leave this chapter. First of all, we can look at it from the natural standpoint, the physical, and then from the spiritual, because I believe both are very interesting and very important. Now that everything has been prepared, you see, out of that chaotic condition, that disordered, disarranged, formless, shapeless mass that we began with in verse two, God has now brought an ordered scene. Light is shining on it. There is an atmosphere suited for life. There is a solid foundation. That's why I'm convinced that the scripture here means just what it says, it was dry land. When God provides a foundation, it's a solid foundation. And so frequently in our Bibles, it is referred to and likened to rock. Of one thing we can be absolutely sure, whatever God builds on is solid and substantial. Whether it be in the material, the physical realm, or the spiritual, God lays a solid foundation for the carrying out of his purposes. Isn't it good to know that you and I are on his foundation? Every now and then, our friends across the water try to take away the cup that is emblematic of the sailing championship of the world, and they send over someone with their ship to try and take away from America, uh, that cup. For many years, uh, those uh, ships that came over were the shamrocks. One, two, three, four, five— I forget how many they tried, but uh, every year there was another shamrock came over and went back again without the cup. But of course it was, particularly in sailing circles, it was quite the talk about the shamrocks over, trying to take the cup away. Well, a servant of the Lord was on the street preaching the gospel one day, just at that time, when the shamrock and the races were in the minds of at least all the sporting-minded people. And, uh, as he was preaching away, a heckler came along, and he said, preacher, tell us something about the shamrock. That's what they're interested in. He said, gladly, my friend. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other rocks are shamrocks. Now that's it. That's just it in a nutshell. That was rising to the occasion, I think, very quickly, and expressing the truth of God. Just what we have here. Dry land, a solid foundation. God is going to put man on the face of the earth. And through that man, God is going to reveal his wisdom, his power, and his grace. He puts him on a solid foundation. And thank God he has put you and me on that most solid of all foundations, the rock of our Lord Jesus Christ. But where did this foundation come from? It came, in that sense, up out of the water. There was a time when it was completely submerged and covered. Now, God didn't completely eliminate the water. He didn't do that. He could have. I have a God who, had he so desired and saw that it was necessary, could have spoken, and there wouldn't have been a drop of water left. But neither could there have been life. The life, the water was necessary for the life that was going to exist. And there, as I said last night in speaking about water, we enter into a tremendously interesting sphere of knowledge. If we were just to pursue the thought of water and the, uh, the oceans of this earth, what amazing wisdom God has revealed in them. I was remarking to, uh, a friend, uh, possibly last night about a, a scientist, a Christian, uh, many years ago, who lived in Richmond, Virginia, who spent his whole life, uh, in seeking to delve into the mysteries of God's handiwork in nature. And in Richmond, Virginia, there stands a monument to his memory and the things that he discovered under the guidance of God. At that time, very little was known about the ocean. As a science, oceanography was practically, well, it was entirely unknown as a science. This dear man lay on his bed one day, quite sick. A relative, I forget whether a son or a son-in-law, was reading the scriptures to him, and he read to him about the paths of the sea. He said, read that again. And he read again of the paths of the sea. He said, if God says there are paths in the sea, there must be, and I'm going to find them. And you talk to any ocean captain, any ocean-going captain from very shortly after that to this present time, and you ask him for the charts, and he will bring out his charts, and he will show you the paths of the sea. Those distinct paths that from the day that dear man discovered them through diligent search of the ocean water, the great ships have followed, both going east and returning westward. So that in the ocean we have spelt out in wonderful ways that we haven't time to even mention, we have spelled out in wonderful ways the wisdom of our God. But what we're particularly thinking about is this. God doesn't remove the waters, the waters that had spelled death, that had been the result of judgment. But what does God do? And what a lovely picture he's given us right here on the first page of our Bible. God doesn't eliminate the waters, but he brings out from under the waters that which provides a solid foundation for the carrying out of his eternal purposes regarding man. And now on that which had been under the judgment waters, but is now safely above them, on that foundation God is going to put his creature, man. Isn't it good to know that you and I are standing on a foundation that was once under the judgment? We can sing with real meaning the words of the old hymn, Death and judgment lie behind us. Grace and glory on before. All the billows roll o'er Jesus. They're exhausted, all their power. Why? Why is it that I can stand here in all humility tonight, and yet in all assurance am saying there is no judgment for me. Do I not deserve it? Most assuredly I do. Will I ever experience it? Most assuredly I never will. Why? There is therefore now no judgment to them that are in Christ Jesus. And for you and for me, this blessed one went underneath the waters of judgment and then came up in resurrection, and you and I are on resurrection ground tonight. Just as the ark later on in the history of the human race, just as the ark went through the waters of judgment in the flood, landed safely on, uh, Mount Ararat after the waters had subsided. And, uh, out from that ark there came those who had gone through the judgment in the ark. So our blessed Lord Jesus Christ has gone through the judgment waters.