Adam, the son of God, was put by his Father into this earth, which was to be not only his home, but also the school in which he was to be educated for the service of God. But he had no books from which to study like those we use in our schools to-day.

Yet he had a wonderful library written for him and for his family by God Himself. All that men need to learn is to know God, and all that can be known of God is clearly seen in the things that He has made. Read Rom. 1:19, 20.

So God did not give them a lot of books to teach them about His works, but He wanted them to study the works themselves, that they might teach them to know God. On everything that men could see, in every living thing that He had put into the earth, some message from God was written.

The Spirit of God, which we learned last week “fills all things,” was teaching them in each thing some precious lesson of God’s power. Man could not of himself read what God had written, but the same Spirit which dwelt in all God’s works filled him also, to teach him just what these lessons were. The work of this great Teacher was to teach men to read what God had written for them in all His works.

The patriarch Job, who lived very early in the history of this world, said, “Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these, that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?” [Job 12:7-9]

But by degrees, as through sin men departed from God, they lost the Spirit of God out of their hearts, and soon forgot how to read what God was saying to them in all creation. They did not know Jesus Christ, who, we are told in the book of Revelation, is “the Alpha and Omega,” that means the alphabet of God.

You know that the first thing in learning to read is to know the alphabet, the A B C. So the Holy Spirit, whom God has appointed for man’s Teacher, moved upon men who had not departed from God and forgotten Him, to write the Holy Scriptures. “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost,” to bring men again to the knowledge of Jesus, “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,” so that they might again be able to see God in His works, and read His lessons there. [2 Pet. 1:21; Col. 2:3]

Many try to read God’s book of Nature before they have learned the alphabet, Jesus Christ; but this is as foolish and useless as for a child to try to read before he knows the A B C. All that he could do would be to guess at the meaning of what he saw. So God says of those who did this that “they became vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” [Rom. 1:21, 22]

But when we take the Word of God for our guide in all our study of “the wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge,” the Holy Spirit will unfold to us the precious lessons that the Creator is teaching us in everything that He has made. This will make us truly “wise unto salvation.” [Job 37:16; 2 Tim. 3:15]

When Jesus, the great Creator of all things, Himself became a little human child, He took the Word of God for His text book, and with the Holy Spirit for His Teacher, He carefully studied the lessons that He Himself had written in all the earth for the children of men. And you will remember that when He was only twelve years old, the great teachers of Israel, “and all that heard Him, were astonished at His understanding.” When He became a man, and taught the people that which He had learned of God in this way, they said, “Whence hath this man this wisdom?” [Luke 2:47; Matt. 13:54]

“Every child may gain knowledge as Jesus did, from the works of Nature, and the pages of God’s Holy Word.” He has given His Holy Spirit to abide with us and teach us “all things.” He says, “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not.” [DA 70; Jer. 33:3]

Then let each little child take Him at His word, and like Jesus learn early to talk with God. Ask Him to make you pure in heart, so that you may see God, and to open your ears that they may be

“Alive and quick to hear
Each whisper of His Word.”

Then as you learn more and more to know His voice and behold His glory, like Jesus you will be able to “speak the things that you have seen and heard,” and so bring light and salvation to others by bringing them also to the knowledge of God. [Acts 4:20]

The Present Truth – July 14, 1898
E. J. Waggoner

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