Willie Martin
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 Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2003 10:52 am Post subject: Old People - 7 |
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Perhaps the best illustration we can give is to refer to
the method by which an inventor brings his ideas to
completion. The inventor creates an image in his mind out of
nothing and from that he intends to later form his invention
through the process of building. The original creative
process may consume little or much time according to the
ability of the inventor and the subject matter under
consideration. The process of building, however, always
consumes time, for it may take days or even years to bring
the pattern of his invention into being..
A genuine inventor will have CREATED in his mind in every
detail the machine or thing he expects to build. He will
have a mental image of the complete machine, although as yet
nothing has been FORMED. As far as he is concerned, that
machine or thing exists, but until it takes shape through
the process of manufacture, it does not appear in sight of
others.
Esdras was contemplating all the wonders he had been shown
and he spoke to the Lord of his mental distress:
"And I said, O Lord, thou spakest from the beginning of the
creation even the first day, and saidst thus; Let heaven and
earth be made; AND THY WORD WAS A PERFECT WORD." (2 Esdras
6:38)
Thus, God's word became the completed plan of the perfected
work, much in the same way that a draftsman makes a plan or
blueprint of the thing to be constructed. John, apparently,
had this in mind when he wrote:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
AND THE WORD WAS GOD." (John 1:1)
In a footnote on this passage Scofield shows in his
commentary that the "Word," or "Logos," means a thought or
concept and the expression or utterance of that thought.
When creation began to take form in accordance with the
revealed blueprint made of the things to come, that though
began to take physical form. There is much food for thought
in the discourse which follows John's opening statement in
his Gospel quoted above. His concluding remark on this theme
is, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." (John
1:14)
The infinite God cannot be confined within human time
limits in either the process of creating or forming.
However, it must be always remembered that He keeps the
requirements of His own laws, for He is altogether just and
righteous. In his impatience Esdras inquired as to why all
things are not made to come to pass at once so that the
promised blessings may be immediately revealed. In reply the
Angel said:
"Did not the souls of the righteous ask question of these
things in their chambers, saying, How long are we here? When
cometh the fruit of the threshing time of our reward?" (2
Esdras 4:35)
The answer give Esdras was:
"Even when the number is fulfilled of them that are like
unto you. For he hath weighed the world in the balance: and
by measure hath he measured the times, and by number hath he
numbered the seasons; and he shall not move nor stir them,
until the said measure be fulfilled." (2 Esdras 4:36-37)
Because Esdras was not wholly satisfied, he asked if the
harvest time is not kept back because of the sins of those
who dwell upon the earth. The Angel told him to go to a
woman who has conceived and ask her if after nine months she
can keep the birth any l9onger within her:
"Then said I, No, Lord, that can she not. And he said unto
me, In the grave the chambers of souls are like the womb of
a woman: For like as a woman that travileth maketh hast to
escape the necessity of the travail: even so do these places
haste to deliver those things that are committed unto them."
(2 Esdras 4:41-42)
It is interesting here to note the dictionary definitions
of the word conceive:
"To from an idea of: also, to form a mental image; think,
imagine. It also means to become pregnant (with); engender,
originate."
Conception is the faculty or power of conceiving or forming
ideas and it also has reference to the impregnation of an
ovum. Thus, in one definition, to conceive is a creative act
which begins in the mind, commencing the process of
formation, the latter requiring time. Esdras was troubled
about the process of time involved, so he asked:
"Couldest thou not make those that have been made, and be
now, and that are for to come, at once; that thou mightest
show thy judgment the sooner?" (2 Esdras 5:43)
Then speaking to God once again Esdras relates:
"But they which be CREATED have defiled the name of him
that made them, and were unthankful unto him which prepared
life for them. And therefore is my judgment now at hand.
These things have I not shewed unto all men, but unto thee,
and a few like thee." (2 Esdras 8:60-62)
The Prophet was then shown the impossibility of creating
and instantaneously bring that creation into being.
Significantly, he was again sent to a woman and instructed:
"Ask the womb of a woman, and say unto her, If thou
beingesth forth children, why dost thou it not together, but
one after another? Pray her therefore to bring forth ten
children at once." (2 Esdras 5:46_
Esdras recognized the impossibility of doing this and he
was told that there is a time for all things:
"For like as a young child may not bring forth the things
that belong to the aged, EVEN SO HAVE I DISPOSED THE WORLD
WHICH I CREATED." (2 Esdras 5:49)
This conversation between Esdras and the Angel, and the
illustrations given in answer to the Prophet's queries,
clearly demonstrate that the creative act, or conception, is
one thing and in itself may be confined to a period of very
short duration. In contrast to the function of creating,
however, is the process of forming, or bringing into being,
of that which was conceived, for the period of gestation
always involves the element of time. Insofar as the earth
and its inhabitants are concerned, that time consumed
centuries. |
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