Crises Of Divine Intervention

by HYLAND, D. T. | Category: General | Jun 1995

When God placed the first man, Adam, in the garden of Eden, his responsibilities and privileges were clearly defined. Adam was given dominion over creation and the freedom of the garden, except that there was one test of loyalty to his Creator. It was made clear to him at the outset that if he violated the divine law there would be dire consequences. When Adam disobeyed the commandment sin entered into his life, and this deeply affected his relationship with God. Sin separated between himself and God, and death began to work in his members. The man and his wife became aware of this changed relationship, and realized they were naked, and tried to solve their problem by expedients of their own devising. They were not, however, abandoned by their Maker, who was still keenly interested in their welfare. God's questions, as He drew near, were very searching. To the man He said, 'Where are thou?' and to the woman, 'What is this thou hast done?' God's intervention here underlines the principle of human accountability to God. Ultimately all men will give account of themselves to God. Adam's sin resulted in spiritual death and his expulsion from the garden; the whole creation commenced to groan and travail in pain (Rom. 8:22).

God's intervention did, however, bring rays of hope. The divine judgement of the serpent foretold the coming of a Saviour, the Seed of the woman. God graciously met the immediate need by clothing the man and his wife in coats of skin. This involved the shedding of blood and pointed forward to Calvary. Man's need is always divinely provided for in advance.

Following the Fall the increase in the earth's population was rapid; it was accompanied by a tide of increasing lawlessness. God saw on every hand evidence of rebellion against His will, and searching the heart of man He knew 'that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually' (Gen. 6:5). Man's inhumanity to man was evident, and his aggressive tendencies resulted in widespread violence. As God viewed the scene He made a solemn pronouncement, 'My Spirit shall not strive with man for ever' (Gen. 6:3). This implies that the wilful rejection of divine pleadings in grace and continuation in an attitude of rebellion will result in divine judgement. Sinners may continue with apparent impunity to flout the Creator's will, but a point will come when judgement will fall. God was about to intervene and cleanse the earth and He made known His purpose to His servant Noah.

Noah walked with God; he was a separated man who was in no way deflected from his duty by the spiritual and moral climate of the time. The secret of his great spiritual strength was the closeness of his walk with God. Whilst the behaviour of mankind in general aroused God's wrath, 'Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD' (Gen. 6:8). God's revelation to Noah of approaching judgement also disclosed the way to preservation for himself and for any who would heed the warning. Noah's faith rested implicitly upon the word of God, and he began to prepare the ark according to the pattern he had been given. He was also a preacher of righteousness to his contemporaries, pleading with them to be reconciled to God. In His longsuffering God waited because He bas no pleasure in the death of the wicked. It is tragic to contemplate that none but his own household would heed Noah's warning. When the ark was prepared only eight souls responded to the invitation, 'Come... into the ark'. Those with Noah were in perfect safety because 'the LORD shut him in'. Then the floods came and brought destruction upon those who had lived in wickedness and had wilfully rejected the way of salvation.

Relatively speaking, it was not long before God had to intervene in the post-diluvian world in judgement. The fact that 'the whole earth was of one language and of one speech' made communication easy and men said one to another, 'Let us build us a city, and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth' (Gen. 11:4). The project was not for the glory of God but for man's self-glorification. They were striving after religious and political unity, but their resources were not in God. Their conception of the city and the tower originated in human pride, and was to be executed by human wealth and power.

The day of reckoning must inevitably come. God intervened to examine the motives behind this feverish activity and to judge accordingly. 'And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded' (Gen. 11:5). Because the motives that prompted men to act in this way would not stand examination, God brought their project to nought. The very situation men were trying to guard against, God brought about. The LORD scattered the proud in the imagination of their wicked hearts. The confounding of their language forced them to abandon their ill-conceived purpose.

But God does not only intervene in human affairs in judgement; He also intervenes to bless. Frequently God effects His purposes through the choice of a man; such a man was Abraham, the friend of God. Abraham came out at the call and the command of God, 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred... unto the land that I will show thee' (Gen. 12:1). In the choice of Abraham God had in view universal blessing according to the promise, 'In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed'. By faith Abraham went out, taking his nephew Lot with him.

Eventually Lot separated himself from Abraham and 'dwelled in the cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom' (Gen. 13:12). Whilst there was much that grieved him there, he was prepared to compromise the situation, 'and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom' (Gen. 19:1). This was a disastrous move on the part of Lot. The cities of the Plain were cesspools of iniquity and God was contemplating their destruction. God said, 'Because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto Me' (Gen. 18:20,21). Divine judgement was called for because sin was rampant. Whilst the Flood called for judgement upon the inhabited earth, the extreme wickedness localized in the cities of the Plain called for a special act of divine judgement upon Sodom and Gomorra. As a result of Abraham's intercession God promised that He would not destroy the cities if but ten righteous persons were found there, but only three of Lot's family finally escaped the judgement when God rained fire and brimstone upon the cities of the Plain. God afterwards fulfilled His promise to Abraham, and Isaac was born. Eventually the children of Abraham became a great nation. As God's purposes centred in them it was inevitable that they should eventually be marked out for persecution. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, set himself up to defy the God of heaven and made the Israelites a nation of slaves. Pharaoh was a hard taskmaster and his oppression of the children of Israel caused them to cry to God for deliverance. 'And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham; with Isaac, and with Jacob' (Ex. 2:24). In His own time God intervened to crush the haughty Pharaoh and redeem Israel 'with a stretched out arm, and with great judgements' (Ex. 6:6).

God's deliverance of Israel from Egypt pointed forward to that decisive act of divine intervention in human affairs when 'God sent forth His Son

that He might redeem' (Gal. 4:4,5). The death of the paschal lamb in Egypt pointed forward to the sacrifice of Christ our Passover. The atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ has made possible deliverance from the thraldom of sin, for those who believe on Him who has obtained eternal redemption.

That God will intervene again in human affairs is certain. The hope of

the believer is the Lord's advent to the air, in fulfilment of His promise, 'I come again' (John 14:3). Subsequently to the rapture of the church the Body of Christ, God will resume His dealings with the nation of Israel. Then will come the advent of the Son of Man to judge and to establish His millennial kingdom.

In this article we have been mainly concerned with God's major acts of direct intervention in mankind's affairs, acts having profound and far-reaching effects. There have been long periods of human history when we have no record of God intervening so decisively: But God is sovereign, and throughout these periods His purposes were still developing. No human power, no Satanic power can thwart the fulfilment of God's will. 'How unsearchable are His judgements, and His ways past tracing out!' (Rom. 11:33).

HYLAND, D. T. | Jun 1995
General