The creation waits with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. He decreed of old that those whom He called should share the likeness of His Son—that He might be the first-born of a great brotherhood.—Rom. 8: 19, 29 (Moffatt).
What is the end toward which God is working in human society? Even the creation seems to sense that there is some hidden plan yet to be revealed, and that it will be revealed in human beings exalted to be the sons of God.
The assumption of religion is that God is the Father of men. All the teachings of religion with respect to man, as to God’s purpose concerning him and the social order He purposes to create, are based on that assumption.
Science offers the postulate that back of creation and the forces of nature there is an intelligent power. It is not the province of science to supply evidence of religion’s postulate of a God to whom men are children. However, the evidence for an intelligent power working in the world which science offers does make such a postulate possible and probable. Scientists concede this. They see “the whole great drama of evolution moving toward the goal of personality—the making of persons with free intelligent wills, capable of learning nature’s laws and getting a glimpse of God’s purpose in nature and of sharing that purpose—having part in a great enterprise in which a supreme intelligence is working out a hidden plan.” In all this, science and the Bible are in approximate agreement—with the difference that where science can only speculate the Bible has a clear revelation.
The revelation of the Bible, beginning with dim outlines, becomes clear and unmistakable in the life and teachings of Christ. Christ shows us God as our Father. You hear Him saying, “All ye are brethren, One is your Father” (Matt. 23: 8-9). In Him we see the power of God reaching out to us in love, to redeem us from sin, to reclaim us as His children. We see in His personality and life the kind of personality and character God is seeking to create in us. Paul speaks to this effect: “He decreed of old that those whom He called should share the likeness of His Son—that He might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood.” Here is a clear picture of the kind of society God is seeking to create—a society in which all share the likeness of Christ and be united in a universal brotherhood—a Christian society.
