Life on the Highest Plane # 20

Life on the Lowest Plane (subtitle)

Let us now sum up the truth we have studied thus far. God's first man, Adam, was without sin; he was created in God's image on the plane of human life. He was made with the capacity for life on the highest plane, the spiritual plane, and with the power to choose such a life. God made man with his face turning Godward. God's will was both the center and the circumference of his life: consequently he lived in righteousness and peace because in perfect adjustment with God, with himself, and will all created beings.

But Adam chose to disobey God's command. He used his power to choice satanward, and placed his life voluntarily under satan's sovereignty. He stepped outside of God's sphere of righteousness, light and life into satan's sphere of sin, darkness, and death. He dethroned God and enthroned "self". He ceased to be spiritual and became flesh. Sin made him a sinner with his face turning satanward and his course tending downward. Self-will became both the center and the circumference of his life; consequently he lives in ungodliness, unrighteousness and discord because there was maladjustment with God, with himself, and with all created beings.

Adam himself was the father of children. He was not merely an individual creation of God but he was the appointed federal head of the human race. All the evil consequences of sin in him were transmitted to all men so that by nature all men are guilty and defiled. The most awful consequence of sin, however, was not the moral and spiritual ruin of the human race but the denial of the Godhood of God in His own universe.

This view of the origin and the consequences of sin, even though it is so clearly taught in God's Word, is not accepted by all. Sin even in many pulpits today is treated very lightly if not passed over altogether. Nevertheless every one knows that humanity is saturated with sin and that sin is really at the bottom of all the world's trouble. But many people are unwilling to admit the real nature of sin. They treat it like a superficial skin disease rather than like a malignant cancer.

Men are unwilling to acknowledge the truth of God's estimate of the natural man, that left to himself he is hopelessly, incurably bad. They place the blame of his misconduct onto his environment or limited circumstances and by seeking to improve these external conditions and to afford him larger opportunities through education and civilization they believe he can be evolved into what God intended him to be.

Such thinking is due to a fundamental misconception of what sin is. The essence of the first sin in Eden is clearly defined in God's Word and it is the essence of all sin from that day to this.

1 John 3:4, "Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness."

The exceeding sinfulness of Adam's sin lay in the fact that it was high treason of the created against the Creator; of the subject against the Sovereign. Such at heart is all sin. The natural man is a spiritual Bolshevist.

Man is not only guilty and defiled but he is rebellious and lawless. He is not only separated from God by sin but he is unreconciled by enmity. In God's sight he is a sinner, an enemy, an outlaw.

satan and God in Conflict

That evil exists in this world no one could deny. Evil forces are at work in countless ways and through manifold channels. An evil power operates everywhere working intelligently for the degeneration of mankind and for the defeat of God. There is in the world an aggressive opposition to God and to God's purpose.

Power is the product of personality, therefore the acknowledgment of the presence of power necessitates the recognition of the presence of a personality originating and directing it.

Nowhere in the Bible is evil treated as a mere abstraction. A lie is the spoken language of a liar.

Acts 5:3, "But Peter said, Ananias, Why hath satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?"

A murder is the actualized desire of a murderer.

1 John 3:12, "Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother."

Ananias was the mouthpiece and Cain was the tool of another. Behind the human personality was a supernatural personality. Their evil was the revealed power of a concealed person.

The Bible tells us that such an evil one exists. Christ is the authority for the statement that there is an evil one and that he is the devil.

Matthew 13:19, "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart."

Matthew 13:39, "The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels."

Good forces are at work also. A good power operates everywhere intelligently for the regeneration of mankind and for the exaltation of God. There is in the world an aggressive opposition to satan and to satan's purpose.

Nowhere in the Bible is good spoken of as a mere abstraction. It is invariably the product of personality. Christ is the authority for the statement that there is a good one and that He is God.

Matthew 13:24, "Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, ' The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field."

Matthew 13:37, "He answered and said unto them, 'He that soweth good seed is the Son of man."

Luke 18:10, "Jesus said unto him, 'Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that, God.' "

The evil one is the antithesis of the Good One. Scripture sets satan forth as the greatest enemy of both God and man. This is clearly seen in the names and titles given him.

He is called "satan," which means opponent or adversary. This title is used of him fifty-six times and invariably reveals him as the opponent of God and the adversary of man.

Matthew 4:10, "Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, satan; for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

1 Peter 5:8, "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour."

He is called "the devil," which means slanderer or accuser. This title occurs thirty-five times in the Bible and shows him to be the slanderer of God and the accuser of man.

Matthew 13:39, "The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels."

Revelation 12:10, "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which accused them before our God day and night."

~Ruth Paxson~

(continued with # 21)