"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. ... And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." (Genesis 1:1-2,31) "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the fullness of the whole earth is His glory." (Isaiah 6:3,RV,margin) "The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein, For He has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods." (Psalm 24:1-2) "The word of the Lord is right; and all His works are done in truth. He loves righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." (Psalm 33:4-5) "The earth, O Lord, is full of your mercy; teach me your statutes." (Psalm 119:64) "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? says the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:24) "The Word was made flesh, and dwell, among us (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) "Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." (Matthew 28:18) "He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things." (Ephesians 4:10) "And of His fullness have all we received, and grace for grace." (John 1:16) "[Christ] is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church; who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the pre-eminence. For it was the good pleasure of the Father that in Him should all the fullness dwell." (Colossians 1:17-19) "Take heed lest there shall be any one that makes spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ; For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, And in Him you are made full." (Colossians 2:8-10) "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." (Matthew 5:6) "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:11) "Unto everyone of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." (Ephesians 4:7) "God gives not the Spirit by measure." (John 3:34) "I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ... That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That you ... may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, And to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:14,16-19) "[The church] is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all." (Ephesians 1:22) "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14)
God's name is I Am. Nothing exists except by Him. Everything bears His impress, because He has put himself into everything that He has made. Apart from Him there is nothing.
At the bidding of the Lord, the matter that forms the earth came into existence. But the earth was formless and empty. Then the Spirit of God moved upon it, brooded over it, and it was filled. Its fullness was the goodness and the glory of God.
That brooding of the Spirit impregnated matter with force. Wherever there is matter there is force; but the force is no part of the matter itself, but is the manifestation of "the fullness of God." The force of the winds and the waves, and the power which the rock has to resist pressure, is but the manifestation of the life of the "Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all." (Ephesians 4:6)
The fullness of the earth is the goodness and the glory of God. "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the fullness of the whole earth is His glory." (Isaiah 6:3,RV,margin)
That is, all the force that is exhibited in nature is but the power of God's goodness. All the fullness of God dwells in Christ, and "He ascended upon high, ... that He might fill all things." (Ephesians 4:8,10)
As sin brought emptiness, so the cross of Christ brings fullness. Sin tends to bring the earth into it condition of confusion and emptiness, (Isaiah 34:11) but by the cross, which lifted Christ up to the throne of glory, the earth will again be filled as it was in the beginning. "And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." (Colossians 1:17,RV)
All things consist in Christ. In giving Him to us, God has given us all things. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32) "Of His fullness have all we received." (John 1:16)
All the power that there is in the whole creation is ours. Whether we believe it or not, the fact remains that God has given all things to everybody; the Gospel is the revelation of this truth to us. The message now is "Fear God, and give glory to Him." (Revelation 14:7)
We give Him glory by worshiping Him as the Creator of the "heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." (Revelation 14:7)
And we worship Him as such only when we allow Him to exercise His creative power in us; for if we do not yield ourselves to Him, acknowledging that we are nothing apart from Him, then we deny His supreme power. It is not enough that "The heavens declare the glory of God," (Psalm 19:1) and that the invisible things of God, even His everlasting power and Divinity, are seen in everything on the earth, and in the very earth itself. (Romans 1:20) Man also, whom God has created for His glory, must show forth the excellencies of God.
God crowned man in the beginning with glory, (Psalm 8:5) and until God's glory is fully revealed before the world in man, (Romans 8:19) the work of the Gospel will not be finished. When those who are willing to follow Christ have so learned His power in the things that He has made that they know nothing else save Christ and Him crucified, (1 Corinthians 2:2) then will the church in very truth be "the fullness of Him that fills all in all." (Ephesians 1:23)
• Then will the earth be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, (Habakkuk 2:14) for the world can see the fullness of His glory in mortal men, so that they will be without the shadow of an excuse for not believing in Him. (2 Thessalonians 1:10)
• Then will Christ's work of filling all things be perfected, and there will be no place in the universe for those who will not allow Him to fill them. (Daniel 2:35)
• Then will the kingdom of God come, and His will be done in earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10)
Then will this scripture be fulfilled: "And every created thing which is in the heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that are in them, I heard saying, Unto Him that sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever." (Revelation 5:13,RV)--Present Truth, December 22, 1898.