Fall 1995
The Nature of God
Paul Sexton

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the
earth. And the earth was without form, and void;
and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
And God said, let there be light: and there was
light" Gen 1:1-3.

In the opening of Genesis, we find God involved in a great conflict. Things have transpired which were not according to His nature, and which He could not tolerate. John tells us that "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" 1 John 1:5b.

This is very revealing. It denotes the underlying conflict that has existed throughout the Bible between light and darkness, between life and death. The great battle is between persons who embody within themselves these things. God having in Himself that blessed, uncreated, and unending life and light. Satan having the power of death, and being the ruler of the darkness of this world.

Here we find them engaged in a conflict because darkness has invaded and assaulted God's creation, "the world was without form and void, and darkness pervaded it and covered the face of the deep." There was nothing significant or meaningful about that disorganized mass and chaos. It was contrary to God, who is a God of creation, order, and light.

Approaching the waste that the world represented, and the darkness that engulfed it, the Lord did not speak in some soft and muted voice, but with authority, "LET THERE BE LIGHT," and as a result there was light, and darkness was vanquished.

Most of us realize the fact that physical conditions are figurative of the spiritual. That is to say, natural things are a parable of the Spirit. Therefore, this natural circumstance in Genesis represents far more than a physical disruption; and is far deeper and more comprehensive than the world being without form and void, and darkness covering the face of the deep.

Paul recognizes the moral state of man and his fallen condition as representative of this physical state of waste and chaos. In fact God has written over all creation in capital letters "VANITY!" Nothing good can come out of this old creation, which Jesus terminated in His death.

Darkness pervades intermittently throughout the Old Covenant, but at last, in the New Testament, God comes in the person of His Son, and in Him is light. There is a striking resemblance between the opening verses of Genesis, and the first chapter of John. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God" John 1:1. It was a word of light that God spoke into the midst of darkness.

When Satan approached our Adamic parents in the garden, he misrepresented the character of God. Irrespective of their knowledge of God's will, which the Lord had faithfully given them, Satan, by his stealthy diplomacy spoke half truths that resulted in their favorable response to him. Not only did they listen and entertain what Satan had said in terms of the lie; but they received it internally. In other words, they swallowed a lie; the lie entered into them and changed them in their very constitution and being. In biology, we call this a mutation; a transmissible alteration.

Man was altered; he lost something, he forfeited that which was essential to the realization of God's purpose in creating him. That loss was the Spirit of sonship which God had breathed into Adam. When Adam responded to the enemy, he lost that vital organ which related him to God - "the spirit of life."

God had said to him, "for in the day that you eat of it, you shalt surely die" Genesis 2:17. First it was sin, then it was death, and now it is darkness and alienation from God.

"This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,
that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles
walk, in the vanity of their mind, having the
understanding darkened, being alienated from
the life of God through the ignorance that is
in them, because of the blindness of their
heart: Eph 4:17-18.

This is a commentary of what happened to Adam, descriptive of what happened in terms of a mutation, or an alteration in his moral structure. In other words, Adam was altogether different after his consorting with Satan than he was when God created him. He lost that vital organ - "the spirit of life" - from his human spirit, and now he is dead; he is blind and no longer related to God.

His mind is at enmity with God. Notice that there was no quest in the heart of Adam after his separation from God. It was God who took the initiative. I often think of God, who out of loneliness created man and then comes into the garden in the cool of the day. Literally, this is in the spiritual time of the day (the word for cool is "ruac" which means breezy, the wind, the breath). God came in the breezy. He came by the Spirit, and He cried out in the garden and said, "Adam, where are you?"

This is the cry of a Father for His son to be reunited to Him. But there was in Adam that devastating damage and impairment that did not allow him to respond. He had lost his receptivity for God, he was dead in trespasses and sin. Furthermore, the Scripture says his understanding was darkened.

The moment that Adam acted in disobedience, the lights went out within him. Everything became pitch dark. Not only so with him, but every child born thereafter was born into a moral midnight with no sight or feeling after God.

"For you were once darkness, but now you are light
in the Lord" Eph 5:8a.

"Nevertheless, when (he) shall turn to the Lord,
the veil shall be taken away" II Cor 3:16.

That is, when ANYONE shall turn to the Lord. We cannot turn to the Lord apart from the agency and the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit. No man can find Christ except the Spirit reveals Him to him. Revelation is a necessity at the very outset; then you will see Christ, and when you see Christ, simultaneously you see yourself and your need for Him.

The need today, as in the beginning, is light.

"But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that
are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded
the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image
of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves
your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ" 2 Cor 4:3-6.

Light has come embodied in our Lord Jesus Christ. Darkness cannot stand this light. It is becoming increasingly brighter as the day of His return approaches. He is light.

"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
an holy nation, a people for possession, so that you
might speak of the praises of Him who has called you
out of darkness into His marvelous light" 1 Peter 2:9.