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said unto them, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and replenish the earth"
(Gen . 1:28).
"And God saw every thing that
He had made, and behold, it was
very good" (verse
31).
If the first
humans - as God had created them
- were VERY GOOO, could it include
a hostile and evil nature tbat was
very BAO?
That ought
10
give every reader
something to think about1
Now what does this record of the
creation of the first humans reveal
as to Adam 's nature
at
the time of
his creation?
I
repeat: Only the very
most brief high spots are recorded
here. The little that is revealed gives
us, however, aU we rea lly need to
know.
Here it is: "And out of the ground
the Eterna! God formed every beast
of the field, and every fowl of the
air; and brought them unto Adam
to see what he wou ld ca ll them ..."
(Gen. 2: 19).
Here, in the briefest of sum–
maries, we may see clearly whether
this short account reveals a re–
bellious a nd disobedient nature
in
Adam, or one of compliance and
obedie nce.
Absolutely NO REBELLION is
in–
dica ted here. We find, instead, the
response tha t Adam gave names to
a ll cattle, to the fowl of the air, and
to every beast of the fi eld.
This incident reveals Adam's a tti–
tude a nd nature
as he was created,
PRIOR TO his temptation by Satan
(which is recorded
in
cbapter 3).
Notice carefully. Absolutely NOTH–
ING
in
the account of this pre-temp–
tation incident indicates in Adam
the presence of an evil, hostile, re–
bell ious attitude or nature.
lt
does
not reflect a heart that is deceitful
above all t hings and desperately
wicked , as human nature is de–
scribed (Jeremiah 17:9), nor a car–
nal mind that is enrnity (hostile)
against God and which " is not sub–
ject to the law of God , neither in–
deed can be" (Romans 8:7).
Nor, on the other hand, does it
revea1 a nat ure filled with tbe spirit
of God . Adam had no t yet been
confronted by Satan, had no t dis–
obeyed, nor had he taken of the
" tree of life" to receive the in–
dwelling LOVE and POWER of God 's
ho ly spirit, which would have im-
12
parted the DIVINE NATURE (11 Peter
l :4).
So prior to the temptation by
Satan, we have only the revelation
that Adam's NATURE, as God cre–
a ted him, was
not
evil, hostile and
diabolica l. There may have been the
physical and mental nature of self–
preservation and such things. But
NOT
the evil nature of SELF–
centeredness.
We need to realize that God cre–
a ted Adam and the human race for
a PURPOSE. We need to have clearly
in mind, a t this point, WHAT that
purpose is.
Angels had inhabited this p lanet
befare the creation of man
(Il
Peter
2:4-6). These angels bad
sinned.
God had set over them a k.ing -
Lucifer, a super archangel - to gov–
ern them with the GOVERNMENT OF
Goo (J sa i a h 14: 12-1 5, Ezekiel
28: 11 - 17). All this has been covered
in detail in previous installments.
This super king, Lucifer, was the
supreme being in created perfect ion
it is possible to crea te (Ezek. 28:12,
15). But, remember, holy and righ–
teous CHARACTER is some thing that
cannot
be crea ted
in
one
instanta–
neously by fia t.
It must be
developed
in an independent entity through a
process in which one comes to rec–
ogni ze the right way from the
wrong, to
choose
the right and reject
t he wrong even against self-desire.
The great Lucifer a nd the a ngels
under him (apparently a th ird of all
angels) were created as holy beings,
composed of spiri t, irnmortal. But in
a rder that they have personality and
individ uality as independent beings,
it was necessary that they be pro–
vided with faculties for knowing,
thinking, reasoning, and making
th eir own decisions and choices.
These a ngels fo llowed their king
Luci fer in the decision to turn
f rom
a nd rebel
againsl
the GOVERNMENT
OF God - God's WAY OF L!FE. That
is THE WAY of
LOVE-
ou tgoing
concern for the good of others - the
way of humility, obedience to and
love for their MAKER, of giving, serv–
ing, cooperating, and sharing. They
turned to THE WAY of vanity, lust
and greed, of rebellion, j ea lousy,
and envy, of competition, strife, and
vio lence, of resentment, bittern ess,
a nd d es truction. Obvious ly tbe
other two thirds of the angels and
archange ls have rema ined holy ,
Joya!, and obedient to Go o 's gov–
ernment.
But now, to carry out God's PUR–
POSE for the inhabitants of this
earth, to accomplish the grand and
awesome PURPOSE throughout tbe
entire universe that could have been
theirs, Goo IS REPROOUCJNG
HLM–
SELF THROUGH HUMAN BEINGS!
The super archa ngel Lucifer was
the supreme pinnacle of God's cre–
ative power in a created be ing.
When he turned to rebellion, it l eft
ONLY Goo Himself who could be
utterly relied on NEVER to deviate
from God's WAY - God's GOVERN–
MENT. It is impossible for God to sin
- because he WILL NOT! It now be–
carne God 's purpose to reproduce
H im self through human beings.
That required
the development
in
human beings of God 's own holy,
righteous CHARACTER. It was neces–
sary, for this purpose, that man be
composed of physical matter, that
he CHOOSE God's government, reject
Lucifer's (now Satan's) self-centered
rebellious way, a nd strive to over–
come it. God's PURPOSE in having
put humans o n ea rth ca n be
achi eved only by man comi ng to
ch oose God's GOVERNMENT as
God's way of life - to reject with
utter finality Satan's way, com–
pletely overcoming it.
So God created MAN out of physi–
cal matter. God created
in
man a
MINO like God's, though of course
inferior, because it was composed of
physical brain, empowered with in–
tellect by a spirit (essense) in each.
Although the holy a nd righteous
CHARACTER to be developed within
man must actually come from God,
each human must make his own de–
cision. He mus t make his own
choice to reject Satan's WAY, strive
agains t it, and to obey God's GOV–
ERNMENT.
Adam was compelled, therefore,
to make the choice. God purposely
allowed Satan opportunity to con–
front Adam with his way of rebel–
lion. But He did NOT a llow Sa tan to
get to Adam
firsf .
God Himself in–
structed Adam in Goo's WAY - the
way of the GOVERNMENT OF Goo
based on the LA
w
OF Goo, j ust as
Lucifer and his angels had been fi rst
instructed in the ways of THE GOV–
ERNMENT oF Goo.
The
PLAIN TRUTH Aprii-May 1976