Principle No. 14 The Election Principle Part 2
By Clifton L. Fowler
Taken from Grace and Truth Magazine 1924
THE ELECTION PRINCIPLE ILLUSTRATED BY GOD'S TWO BIBLES GOD has had, in the course of the years since the creation of Adam, two Bibles. The first Bible was the one which He used with the early peoples of the earth, when human mentality had not descended to its more modern crassness. The first Bible was made up of the most intricate system of symbolology. It was, however, fully understood by the things that were made so that man was without excuse when he spurned God's grace in that early day, just as fully as he is without excuse today when the plain statements of God's written Word, His second Bible, are ignored, rejected, and trampled under foot. In relation to God's two Bibles His purpose according to election stands,— He sets aside the first that He may establish the second. God's first Bible was the starry heavens. By means of a series of marvelously designed figures (now called the zodiac) which were arbitrarily associated with the so-called "fixed stars," a system of doctrine concerning a coming Deliverer and Redeemer was placed within easy reach of earth's early men. Since virtually all men of the first twenty-five hundred years of earth's history were more or less familiar with the arrangement of the stars, God's placing the story of the coming Messiah in the heavens was a bold stroke whereby He placed the knowledge of the way of salvation within the reach of every man of that early day. God's second Bible, the written Word, which we now have, spreads before us seven facts concerning the stars. These seven facts point conclusively to the truth which we have indicated, — the starry heavens contain God's primitive revelation. First: The stars were created by God. Although modern pseudo-scientific guessers are now seeking to crowd the Creator out of His universe, the Word of God has not undergone any evolutionary transmutations. It remaineth firm; it standeth sure. Its enemies jeeringly dub it "static," while its friends lift thankful hearts to heaven that the Old Book is "immutable." The changeless Word of God declares that God created the stars.
It is evident from these passages that God employs in the Scripture the expressions, "heavens," "the host," and the 'host of the heavens," to speak of the stars. It is God Who creates. He bringeth out the host of heaven. He it is Who spangles night with the beauty of myriads oi twinkling stars. Second: The stars were numbered and named by God. There was a time when astromers reported that there were a few thousand stars in the heavens. We are now told that the numbering of the stars is an impossibility. It is most unique, in the presence of this evidence of human uncertainty and ignorance, to face the calm and assured statements of God's Word,
It is noteworthy to observe that God has done two seemingly impossible things.. He has both NUMBERED and NAMED the stars. God does nothing uselessly. There are no superfluities with Deity! He declares He has done a thing, which from the standpoint of the men of the highest training and equipment, is an impossibility. We are forced to the conclusion that so vast a performance as the numbering and naming of the humanly countless host of heaven must have been impelled by a Divine purpose which was commensurate with the vastness of the thing accomplished. God did not do this stupendous thing without a reason! What was His reason.^ Third: The star-groups (constellations) were formed or designed and numbered by God. The wonderful and interesting figures in the star-groups, or constellations, which constitute the zodiac have been the subject of many books. Inquiries into the origin of these star-groups have been most numerous and have been conducted with scholarly patience and research. The results have not always been as satisfactory as the vast outlay of labor would apparently have warranted. Upon one point, however, the astronomers and archaeologists are in perfect accord, — the figures of the zodiac are of very great antiquity. While agreeing ungrudgingly on this point, the students have failed utterly to agree on the question, — who formed the zodiac? The Bible answers this question.
Why, pray tell, should there be any question as to the origin of the zodiac in view of such clear Scriptural statements? The Bible says, "God made Orion," one of the constellations. The Bible says, "The hand of God hath formed the crooked serpent,' another one of the constellations. Since He made a part of the constellations. He must have made them all. In the light of such passages, the question cannot be regarded as an open question. The zodiac was not of human origin. The Spirit of God in the Book of God teaches us that the hand of God formed the figures of men and women, beasts, birds and monsters which appear in the zodiac. In another passage in Job, the Holy Spirit employs a word which by its then common meaning reveals the number of signs of the zodiac.
It is necessary to employ the Context Principle ( Principle No. 7) to catch the intent of this verse. It occurs in the midst of a long speech addressed by the Lord Himself to Job. The speech is composed of a striking series of incisive questions everyone of which points to the mighty power of God in creation. No answers are given because they were not necessary. Job knew the answers. If the answers were supplied, they would but furnish an imposing array of didactive declarations of God s absolute creatorhood. The chapter might appropriately be labeled, God's reply to the evolution hoax. A glance at some of the questions and their self-evident answers will clearly exhibit the character of the context in which our passage about the twelve signs of the zodiac and the constellation of the Bear occurs.
God is simply saying to Job in the form of an interrogation, — I brought forth the twelve signs of the zodiac, I am the Designer of the figures of the constellations, and having formed them, I guide them from day to day and from year to year through the heavens. Forth: The stars were given meanings by God. The first reference to the fact that there is a God-given meaning in the stars is in the first chapter of Genesis:
To this hour the stars "are for seasons" and for "days" and "for years," but what could be the thought in the mind of God when He said, "and for signs?" Save only for the so-called astrologers of today with their imaginative superstitions, the use of the stars "for signs" has died from the earth. The scriptural usage of the Hebrew word translated "signs" sheds much light on this subject. The same word is rendered "token" in God's words to Noah concerning the rainbow:
Again, the same word is rendered "mark" in the record concerning Cain:
In numerous other passages this word is rendered "sign," as in Genesis 1:14. Miracles are called "signs." The overthrow of Pharaoh in the Red Sea is called a "sign." The plagues in Egypt are called "signs." Thus we find from the Holy Spirit's usage of this word, as we see it connected with the mark of Cain, the rainbow, the destruction of Pharaoh's host, and many other wonders in God's dealings with the race, that its meaning becomes clear. A "sign" is a special, visible, manifestation, often miraculous, which is intended to convey a message. This is borne out most plainly in God's words to Moses concerning the signs of the rod and the leprous hand.
The word translated "voice" in this passage is one which means message, or proclamation, or declaration. How clear God's conception of a "sign" becomes. A sign is some visible "mark" or "token" which gives a message or revelation to man. Genesis 1:14 says that God gave the stars "for signs." In the light of the common usage of the word the self-evident meaning of the passage is that God placed the stars in the firmament to impart to man a message, a proclamation, a revelation. The starry heavens were God's first Bible. Fifth: The message of the stars was known by early man. The Apostle Paul in the Roman Epistle leaches that all men have heard the gospel message. The passage is an unusually interesting one.
He raises a thought-provoking question. If hearing comes by the Word of God, and the Word of God as we have it, began with Moses, what about the men who lived from Adam to Moses, a period of 2,500 years? Have they, earth's earliest men, ever had a chance to hear the message of the Lord? Paul's answer to this question is "YEA VERILY," which forces us to raise the query, how did they hear? Paul's next words give the answer:
Here is evidently a universal testimony, but by whom is it given? "Their sound," — whose sound? Find the antecedent of the word "their" and you have found out the source of the early preaching which reached "all the earth ' and went to the "ends of the world." But the word "their" is very far removed from its antecedent. It is removed by a thousand years. The words just quoted from Romans 10:18 are themselves a quotation from the wonderful 19th Psalm. If we will go back to the original context (Principle No. 7) of these words we will find the lost antecedent.
The antecedent of the word "their" in Romans 10:18 is the word "heavens" in Psalms 19:1. It is the "sound" or message of the heavens, which has gone to "all the earth." It is the "words" or preaching of the heavens which has been carried to the "ends of the world." There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. The message which the heavens declare is plainly set forth, —
But who is the glory of God? The glory of God is our Lord Jesus Christ. In Hebrews 1:3 Jesus is definitely said to be "the brightness" of God's "glory" and in Revelation 21:23 we find the words, —
The "Glory" lightens the city, and the "Lamb" is the Light, — Only one conclusion is possible, — the Lamb is the glory. When the Psalmist cried out, "The heavens declare the glory of God," he is simply saying "the heavens preach Christ." This wondrous stellar proclamation of the gospel goes back to the very beginning.
God did not allow early men to be ignorant of the gospel. By means of the starry Bible the message was received and "understood" by all men. Hence, God declares "they are without excuse." It is particularly comforting to those who may have had questions as to the justice of God's dealing with the immediate descendants of Adam to know that He placed before their very eyes a clear testimony concerning Jesus Christ, that they understood the testimony, but rejected it, hence they are without excuse and God is in the clear when He metes out upon them His divine judgment. Sixth: The message of the stars was perverted by man. One of the clearest of the Biblical references to this fact is found in the first chapter of Romans:
It is most convincing to observe the exact wording employed by the Holy Spirit in this passage. He says, "they changed the glory of God into an image." We have already learned that "the glory of God" can refer to none other than Jesus Himself. These early men turned Jesus, the Lord, as set forth in the symbols of the twelve signs, into an image. They twisted true worship of God into idolatry. They changed the truth of God into a lie. The results of this awful perversion of God's first Bible are to be seen in several passages in God's second Bible.
There can be little doubt in the mind of the thoughtful and prayerful student that the perversion by man of God's first Bible was very full and very complete, and that the result of that perversion was horrid idolatry accompanied by a terrible breakdown in man's conception of personal purity. The modernistic attitude of mind in any age brings with it the loss of respect for the authority of Divine revelation, and this skepticism is always the harbinger of loose morals. Seventh: The stars shall he moved by God. It is told of an old darky preacher that he preached on the subject, "The Sun Do Move." The Bible certainly does teach that, for the stars' moving day is coming. The stars shall move.
There will come a day when the twelve signs of the zodiac will be but a memory. Jesus is coming back again, and when He comes the stars of the heavens shall fall and the last vestige of God's first Bible will disappear. God's purpose according to election shall stand. He hath declared that all firsts shall be set aside and all seconds established. The principle never breaks down. God sets aside the starry Bible that He may establish His written Bible. Not one word that He hath predicted shall fail. The starry Bible shall pass away, but the Word of our God endureth forever.
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