In Hebrews 11:3 it is recorded that it is through faith that we understand that the worlds were framed—put together, arranged, built—“by the word of God: so that things which are seen were not made of things which do not appear.” The earth which we have was not made of rocks; men were not made of monkeys, apes, and “the missing link”; and apes and monkeys and “the missing link” were not made of tadpoles; and tadpoles were not made of protoplasm originally way back at the beginning. No! “The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”
Now why is it that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear?—Simply because the things of which these are made did not appear. And the reason those things did not appear is because they were not at all. They did not exist. The worlds were framed by the word of God; and the word of God is of that quality, it has that property about it, which, when the word is spoken, not only causes the thing to be, but causes to exist the material out of which the thing is made, and of which the thing consists.
You know also the other scripture, that “by the word of the lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth; … for he spake, and it was.” Psalm 33:6–9. Upon this I will ask you a question: How long after he spoke, before the things were? How much time passed, after he spoke, before the thing was? Not a week?—No. Not six long periods of time?—No. Evolution, even that which recognizes a Creator, holds that indefinite countless ages, or “six long, indefinite periods of time,” passed in the formation of the things which are seen, after he spoke. But that is evolution, not creation: evolution is by long processes. Creation is by the word spoken.
When God, by speaking the word, had created the world, for this one he said, “Let there be light.” Now how much time passed between the words, “Let there be light,” and the time when the light came? I want you to understand this matter aright, so that you can find out whether you are an evolutionist or a creationist. Let me ask this again. Were there not six long periods of time between the time when the word was spoken and the accomplishment of the fact? You say No. Was it not a week?—No. Not a day?—No. … Nor even a second?—No, indeed. There was not a second between the time when God said, “Let there be light,” and the existence of light. … I go over it thus minutely, so as to get it firmly fixed in your mind, for fear you will let it go presently, when I ask you something further. … Then the man who allows that any time at all passed between God’s speaking and the appearing of the thing, is an evolutionist. If he makes it countless ages upon countless ages, he is simply more of an evolutionist than the one who thinks it took a day; he is the same thing, but more of it.
Next, God said, “Let there be a firmament.” And what then?—It was so. Then from the time that God spoke, “Let there be a firmament, … and let it divide the waters from the waters,” how long before a firmament was there? Was that done instantly?—Yes. Then the man who holds that there was an indefinite, a very long, period of time between the speaking of the word and the existence of the fact,—what is he?—An evolutionist. If he allows that there was a day, or an hour, or a minute, between the speaking of the word, and the existence of the thing itself, that man does not recognize creation.
When the Lord said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear;” also when he said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, … it was so.” Then God set two great lights in the heavens, and made the stars also; and when he spoke the word, “it was so.” He said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament;” and it was so. When God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, the beast of the earth after his kind,” it was so. When he spoke, it was always so. That is creation.
You see, then, that it is perfectly logical, and reasonable enough, too, for the evolutionists to set aside the word of God, and have no faith in it; for evolution itself is antagonistic to creation. When evolution is antagonistic to creation, and creation is by the word of God, then evolution is antagonistic to the word of God. Of course the genuine, or original, sound evolutionists did not have any place for that word, nor for the half-and-half evolutionists,—those who bring in creation and the word of God to start things. It takes so long a time, such indefinite and indeterminate ages for evolution to accomplish anything, that it does away with creation.
The genuine evolutionist recognizes that creation must be immediate; but he does not believe in immediate action, and therefore does not believe in creation. Do not forget that creation is immediate, or else it is not creation: if not immediate, it is evolution. So touching again the creation at the beginning, when God speaks, there is in his word the creative energy to produce the thing which that word pronounces. That is creation; and that word of God is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever; it lives and abides forever; it has everlasting life in it. The word of God is a living thing. The life that is in it is the life of God—eternal life. Therefore it is the word of eternal life, as the Lord Jesus said; and in the nature of things it abides and remains forever. Forever it is the word of God; forever it has creative energy in it.
So when Jesus was here, he said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” The words that Jesus spoke are words of God. They are imbued with the life of God. They are eternal life, they abide forever; and in them is the creative energy to produce the thing spoken.
This is illustrated by many incidents in the life of Christ, as narrated in the New Testament. I do not need to cite them all; but I will refer to one or two, so you can get hold of this principle. You remember that after the sermon on the mount, Jesus came down, and there met him a centurion, saying, “My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.” The centurion said: “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus turned to those standing about, and said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”
Israel had the Bible; they knew the word of God. They boasted of being the people of the Book, the people of God. They read it; they preached in their synagogues, “My word … shall accomplish that which I please.” They said, when they read that word: That is all right; the thing ought to be done. We see the necessity of it, and will do it. We will accomplish what it says. Then they did their best to accomplish it. It took them a long while, so long indeed, that they never did it. Their real doing of the word was so far away that the greatest of them were led to exclaim, “If but one person could only for one day keep the whole law, and not offend in one point,—nay, if but one person could but keep that one point of the law which affected the due observance of the Sabbath,— then the troubles of Israel would be ended, and the Messiah at last would come.” So though they started in to do what the word said, it took them so long that they never got to it. What were they?
There was the word of God, which said, “It shall accomplish that which I please.” It was spoken thus of the creative power. And though they professed to recognize the creative energy of the word of God, yet in their own lives they left that all out, and said, We will do it. They looked to themselves for the process which would bring themselves to the point where that word and themselves would agree. What were they? Are you afraid to say, for fear that you have been there yourself? Do not be afraid to say that they were evolutionists; for that is what they were, and that is what a good many of you are. Their course was antagonistic to creation; there was no creation about it. They were not made new creatures, no new life was formed within them; the thing was not accomplished by the power of God; it was all of themselves; and so far were they from believing in creation that they rejected the Creator, and crucified him out of the world. That is what evolution always does; for do not forget that “evolution is directly antagonistic to creation.”
Now these were the people upon whom Jesus looked when he made this statement about the faith in Israel. Here was a man who was a Roman, who had grown up among the people who were Jews, and who set at naught the teachings of Jesus. That centurion had been around where Jesus was, had seen him talking, had heard his words, and had seen the effect of them, until he himself said, “Whatever that man speaks is so; when he says a thing, it is done. Now I am going to have the advantage of it.” So he went to Jesus, and said what is written. Jesus knew perfectly well that the man had his mind upon the power of his word to do that thing; and he replied, “Very well, I will come and heal your servant.” “O no, my Lord, you do not need to come.” You see this man was testing the matter, to see whether or not there was any power in the word. Therefore he said, “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus replied, “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed.” When that word went forth, “so be it done unto thee,” how long before the man was healed? Twenty years?—No. Didn’t he have to go through many ups and downs before he was certainly healed? Honest, now?—No, no! When the word was spoken, the word did the thing that was spoken; and it did it at once.
Another day Jesus was walking along, and a leper some distance from him saw and recognized him. He, too, had got hold of the blessed truth of the creative energy of the word of God. He said to Jesus, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Jesus stopped, and said, “I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately that leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:41, 42. We are not allowed to put a moment of time between the speaking of the word and the accomplished fact: “immediately” the leper was cleansed.
Now you see that the word of God at the beginning of creation had in it the creative energy to produce that thing which the word pronounced. You see that when Jesus came into the world to show men the way of life, to save them from their sins, he demonstrated, over and over again, here and there and everywhere, to all people and for all time, that that same word of God has that same creative energy in it yet; so that when that word is spoken, the creative energy is there to produce the thing.
Now are you an evolutionist, or are you a creationist? That word speaks to you. You have read it; you profess to believe it. You believe in creation, as against the other evolutionists; now will you believe in creation, as against yourself? Will you put yourself upon that platform today where you will allow nothing to come between you and the creative energy of that word—no period of time whatever?
Jesus said to a certain person, “Thy sins are forgiven.” How long before it was so?—There was no length of time whatever between the word “forgiven” and the thing. That same word, “Thy sins are forgiven,” is spoken to you today. Why do you let any time pass between this word, which is spoken to you, and the accomplishments of the thing? You said a while ago, that anybody who let a minute, or even a second, pass between the speaking of the word of God and the production of the thing, is an evolutionist. Very good; that is so. Stick to it. Now I ask you, Why is it that when he speaks forgiveness to you, you let whole days pass before forgiveness gets to you, before it is true in you? You said the other man is an evolutionist. What are you, I want to know? Are you going to stop being evolutionists and become creationists?
This day will be one of special importance to many here, because it is a time when many will decide this question one way or another. If you go out of this house an evolutionist, you are in danger. It is to you a matter of life or death just now. You said that evolution is infidelity, and that is so; therefore if you go out of this house an evolutionist, where do you stand? What is your choice? And if you go out of this house without forgiveness of sins, you are an evolutionist, because you allow time to pass between the speaking of the word and the accomplishment of the fact.
From what I have read, you see that whoever lets any time pass between the word spoken and the thing done, is an evolutionist. The word of God to you is, Man, “thy sins are forgiven thee.” Woman, “thy sins are forgiven thee.” … I thank God this is so, because the creative energy is in that word “forgiven” to take away all sin, and create the man a new creature. I believe in creation. Do you? Do you believe in the creative energy that is in the word “forgiven” spoken to you? Or are you an evolutionist, and do you say, I can not see how that can be, because I am so bad? I have been trying to do right, but I have made many failures; I have had many ups and downs, and have been down a good many more times than up. If that is what you say, you are an evolotionist; for that is evolution.
Many people have been longing and longing for a clean heart. They say: “I believe in the forgiveness of sin and all that, and I would take it all, if I was sure that I could hold out; but there is so much evil in my heart, and so many things to overcome, that I do not have any confidence.” But there stands the word, “Create in me a clean heart.” A clean heart comes by creation, and by no other means; and that creation is wrought by the word of God. For he says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” Are you a creationist now, or are you an evolutionist? Will you go out of this house with an evil heart, or with a new heart, created by the word of God, which has in it creative energy to produce a new heart? It speaks to you a new heart. To every one it speaks just that way, … When you allow any time to pass between the word spoken and the fulfillment of that thing in your experience, then you are an evolutionist.
There are those in this house who have said: Yes, I want it, I am going to have it, I believe the word will accomplish it; but they have lengthened out the time until the next meeting, and on and on, passing over years; and so they are just this much evolutionists. “While so many are hovering about the mystery of faith and godliness, they could have solved the matter by proclaiming [speaking abroad, telling it out], ‘I know that Jesus Christ is my portion forever.’ ” The power to produce this is in the word of God; and when this is accepted, the creative energy is there producing the thing that is spoken. So you can settle the whole matter of the mystery of faith and godliness by proclaiming that you know that Christ is your portion forever.
There is a mystery in how God can be manifested in such sinful flesh as yours. But, mind you, the question is not now about the mystery; the question is, Is there such a thing as creation? Is there such a thing as a Creator who can create in you a clean heart, or is the whole thing simply evolution? Just now, and among Seventh-day Adventists, the question from this day until the end of the world must be, Do you believe in the Creator? And when you believe in the Creator, how is it that he creates?—Of course you say, it is by the word of God. Very good. Now, does he create things for you by his word? Are you a creationist for the other evolutionists, and then an evolutionist for the other creationists? How is it?
Another thing. The word says, “Be ye clean.” He said, back yonder, “Let there be light: and there was light.” He said to the leper, “Be thou clean;” and “immediately” he was clean. He says now to you, “Be ye clean,” and what now? Every one of you—what do you say? [Voice: It is so.] Then for your soul’s sake put yourself upon that creative word. Recognize the creative energy in the word of God which comes to you in the Bible; for this word of God in the Bible is the same here to you to-day that it was when it spoke into space the worlds on high, and brought light out of darkness, and cleansing to the leper. That word spoken to you to-day, if received, creates you new in Christ Jesus; that word spoken into the dark waste and void space of your heart, if received, produces there the light of God; that word is spoken to-day to you, afflicted with the leprosy of sin, if received, immediately cleanses you, Let it. Let it.
From the book, Lessons on Faith by A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner.
©1995, TEACH Services, Inc. Used with Permission. www.teachservices.com
In 1888, the Lord brought a message of righteousness to the Church through elders E.J. Waggoner and A.T. Jones. This message was identified as the loud cry of the third angel whose glory was to fill the whole earth in preparation for the second coming of Jesus.