Joseph’s Alabaster Box

God knows every thought and intent of our heart. We must always be careful about accusing people of having a bad motive because we cannot get inside a person’s head and learn why they did something. The Lord knows the motives for our actions because He knows what goes on in our soul. It may be a puzzle to some folks why God would ask man questions in view of the truth that God knows what is in our mind. God asks a question in Genesis 2:9 that is very interesting. Let’s read verses 8 – 10: “And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I wast naked; and I hid myself.”

Of course, God knew where Adam and Eve were. He could plainly see them there among the trees trembling and dreading to face Him. You remember how surprised Nathanael was when Jesus told him that He saw him while he was standing under the fig tree. John 1:48, “Nathanael saith unto him, whence knoweth thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.” Don’t play hide and go seek with God. You may hide in a coal mine deep in the earth, but God will tag you out. Nathanael had been a long way off when Jesus saw him under that fig tree, and Nathanael knew that only the Son of God could see a man who was well out of sight.

In the next chapter of John, the last two verses reveal to us that God knows everything that is in man. John 2:24, 25, “But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.”

Adam and Eve were clearly in the sight of the Creator when He came to walk with them, though they thought they were well hidden. But God’s vision is not limited by such things as wood and skin and bones. It should not come as a surprise to us that God Who knew where they were, would ask them where they were. When God deals with man, God must deal with man with human attributes, or on human terms, for man can never deal with God’s divine attributes. And so, when God talks with man, he must talk with him as a man would. He wrote His Word in man’s language, for man could not read a Bible written in a heavenly language. The Bible, composed of man’s language, must be severely limited in explaining matters that concern Heaven and eternity. Man’s language is proficient in cursing God, and expressing doubts about His love, His grace; His very existence. Man’s language composes eulogies to gods of wood and stone and philosophy. God did not hide things when He gave us His Word in 1611.

Man’s language declares that life and beauty could arise from the soil. Man’s language extols time as a virtual god, and we are made to believe that life could have sprung from dying things. Doesn’t the blooming symphony of spring sing of a Creator? Why is language so devoid of praise to God? Listen as long as you will to the voice of the world, and you find that man does his best to hide truth and righteousness in clamor of vulgarity.

But God must force upon human language that which speaks of eternal matters. In mercy God uses man’s language to beckon man to the reason he was given the power to speak in the first place. God does speak to His minority in heavenly language. Heavenly language is heard by the soul and spirit. The machinery in the physical ear does not pick up sound waves when heavenly language is used. It is the heart strings that move when heavenly language is heard. Only the redeemed ear can hear and understand the language of the Lord. The devout soul communicates with the Lord God

Throughout the Word of God we learn of people being spoken to by the Lord. In Genesis 8:15, “… God spake unto Noah, saying, …”, and proceeded to give him orders to leave the ark. God spoke to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses; and all through the Bible, we find instances where God spoke to man.

Poor miserable Hagar, whom Abraham took to wife, and who bare his son, was cast out by Abraham’s other wife, Sarah. Hamar fled into the wilderness to a fountain of water where the angel of the Lord spoke to her, as recorded in Genesis 16:9, “And she called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me: . . .”. Incidentally, note what God said to Hagar as He was speaking to her about her son, Ishmael, in verse 12: “And He will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him;. . .”. God prophesied that the descendants of Ishmael would be “. . .wild men. . .”, and today the whole civilized world trembles in the presence of Arabs who commit acts of terror that only wild men could perpetrate.

Of all the creatures on this planet, only humans talk. We call upon the evolutionist in vain to offer some explanation for this fact. At what point in his evolution could man have learned to speak? The evolutionist admits that they do not even know when man became man. The ability to communicate is another evidence of the existence of the human soul. If the eye was beyond the understanding of Darwin, then human speech would also have been beyond the scope of his thought if he had been perceptive enough to have thought about it. “One of the most obvious and unequivocal proofs of the uniqueness of man in contrast to the animals is the ability to communicate in terms of intelligible, abstract, symbolic human language.”¹ The most primitive peoples on Earth speak languages that are very complex, requiring skilled persons many long hours of study to decipher.

Today, God speaks to all men through His written Word. He has revealed to us through His Word all of the most important knowledge man must have to conduct his personal life according to God’s purpose for him, and in the most satisfactory way for himself. Man has created a babel of voices in the many different books that have been labeled “bible,” but in truth there is only one Bible. It is the King James Bible, having on its pages the grandeur of the old English which is Bible language. The other books may be classified as commentaries, or Bible story books, but they are not the divinely sanctioned and preserved Word of God.

The most important matters in God’s Word are clearly and plainly stated so that no man can be confused therein: namely, how to be saved, and how to conduct his life according to the basic plan for a child of God still on Earth. Matters of less importance, such as the creation, the history of the Jews, and the last days, are covered less thoroughly, and are therefore more difficult to understand. Translations of Scripture other than the King James, do not make these matters any more understandable.

God speaks to every man through His works. All the calendars on Earth show a seven-day week, speaking of God’s creative work. The heavens reveal the Creator’s triune person. All of the universe speaks of design and direction. The Lord God is the Creator. God calls to all of us, “. . .Where art thou?” “Where are you?” could mean where is a great group of people, such as you Jews. “Where art thou?” is more personal. It means one individual to whom God is speaking. The question is to the individual – every individual. Jehovah knows where you are, just as He knows all about your sins, but He wants you to think about where you are. Are you where you ought to be? He wants to know where your affection is, where your loyalty is.

Where would I want to be when God asks, “… Where art thou?” I would like to answer, “Here, Lord, by the altar.” How can one ever go wrong if he is by the altar? Just as Noah, Abraham, and Jacob built altars where they were, we should build altars where we are. The tool box, the washing machine, the computer, the school desk, the automobile, the bedroom; wherever we tarry a moment, could be an altar. To answer from the altar is an indication that we are ready for whatever task the Master has for us

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1. Henry M. Morris, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1984), p. 406.

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