"The earth was without form, and void; ... and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." (Genesis 1:2) "Whither shall I go from your Spirit? or whither shall I flee from your presence? ... If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there." (Psalm 139:7,9) "Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? 24 Can any hide himself in secret place that I shall not see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth?" (Jeremiah 23:23) "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, that brings out their host by number: He calls them all by name; by the greatness of His might, and for that He is strong in power, not one is lacking." (Isaiah 40:26) "He stretches out the North over empty space, and hangs the earth upon nothing." (Job 26:7) "Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, on the sides of the North [or, more literally, is Mount Zion, the extreme North), the city of the great King. God has made himself known in her palaces for a refuge." (Psalm 48:1-3) "How are you fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which did lay low the nations! And you said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: and I will sit upon the Mount of congregation, in the uttermost parts of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High." (Isaiah 14:12-14) "Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him." (John 6:43-44) "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all [men] unto me." (John 12:32) "The Lord has appeared of old unto me, saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you." (Jeremiah 31:9)
Read these texts until you can see the following facts clearly stated: It was the Spirit of God, brooding over the face of the waters in the beginning, that brought order out of chaos. God's presence by the same Spirit is still in every part of the universe. He fills heaven and earth. Hell, that is, the inmost recess of the earth beneath, "is naked before Him." (Job 26:6) "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23)
The present continual working of the Spirit in every place, even in each individual particle of matter that compose the earth, is what still makes it a safe place to dwell on. That power causes the atoms to cohere: "in Him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:17:17)
So that the earth is a solid body, instead of a vast number of scattered particles. God is not only near at hand, but He is "afar off." (Jeremiah 23:23) It is His power that is doing the work which men call "gravitation." It holds the innumerable heavenly bodies in their places, so that not one is lacking.
It is a fact that there is an attractive force, a power that draws, in everything. Suspend two ivory balls from a height, and it will be seen that the distance between their centers is not so great as the distance of the two points from which they are suspended. If a ball be suspended a few inches from the face of a high cliff which ascends perpendicularly, it will be found that the ball is drawn toward the rock.
In every solid there is a strong force at work holding the particles together. The particles of water are not held together so closely. This drawing power is seen most clearly in what is called a magnet, and in the needle of the compass, which always, in the most mysterious manner, points toward the north.
There is something mysterious in this attraction to the north. The word in the Hebrew Bible, which is always used for "the north," signifies, "hidden, secret, concealed." God stretches out the north,--the hidden, secret place,--over empty space, and "hangs the earth upon nothing." (Job 26:7)
That mysterious power emanating from the north, holds it in its appointed place, and likewise holds all the other heavenly bodies. This mysterious power is the power of God, whose dwelling place is "in the uttermost parts of the north." (Isaiah 14:13) "Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land." (Jeremiah 1:14)
It is from the temple of God that the plagues of the wrath of God are sent forth. (Revelation 15:1, 6-8; 16:1) Only those who dwell "in the secret place" of the Most High, will be kept safe from the plagues.(Psalm 91:1-11) "Power belongs unto God." (Psalm 62:11)
His everlasting power is seen in the things that are made. (Romans 1:20) Christ is the power of God, (1 Corinthians 1:24) and the Spirit is His Representative everywhere. All power in heaven and in earth is in His hands. (Matthew 28:18) The power that directs all the heavenly bodies in their orbits, leading them forth and drawing them back again, so that there is not the slightest confusion, is the power of the Spirit of God. The attractive power of God's own personality everywhere present, is that which holds the universe in order.
The cross of Christ is the power of God, for Christ, the power of God, is set forth only as the crucified One. Christ cannot truly be preached except as "Christ crucified." (1 Corinthians 1:23) Therefore every manifestation of power in the universe is but the manifestation of the power of the cross. The cross is the center of salvation because the crucified Christ, the power of God, is the center of the universe. So the power which is actively working in every particle of matter, and which is so visibly at work everywhere, is the power of the cross, by which God is working to draw all men to himself. (John 12:32)
God is real, and His salvation is real. When He tells us about the power of His salvation, He does not leave us to our imagination, nor does He refer to something vague and indefinite and intangible, but shows the power actually working before our eyes, and even in our own bodies. The Word which is preached unto us, and which we are to proclaim to others, is "that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes." (1 John 1:1)
Therefore, "Unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21)--Present Truth, July 28, 1898.