GEMS IN GENESIS ONE

LIBERTY AND LOVE #122

“For whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4). The things in the Old Testament are there for us to learn from, and they teach us about Jesus. If you read the Old Testament and do not find Jesus, go back and read it again, because you missed the point. “You search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and these are they which testify of me” (John 5:39). “And that from childhood you have known the holy scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:15). The Scriptures referred to here are the Old Testament writings, and Paul said they are able to make one wise for salvation through faith in Christ.

We learn some things about Christ from the very first book of the Bible, and the very first chapter of the Bible.  Let us notice some of those things.

CREATION

Jesus made the world. The first verse states, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). The Hebrew word for God in this verse is plural. This suggests the Holy Trinity in the very first verse of the Bible. “For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7). 

It is enlightening to trace the phrase “in the beginning” elsewhere in the Bible.  “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and nothing was made without Him that was made” (John 1:1-3). The Father says to the Son, “And you, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands” (Heb. 1:10). 

So Jesus Christ was not only in the beginning with the Father, but the Father actually created everything through him. “And to make all people see what the fellowship of the mystery is, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ” (Eph. 3:9). “For by Christ all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16).  So in the very first verse of the Bible, we find Jesus, who created the heavens and the earth.

SEPARATION

A second thing we see in Genesis 1 is the separation of light from darkness. God always separates light from darkness. “And God saw the light, that it was good;  and God divided the light from darkness” (Gen. 1:4). In the end, God will separate the light from the darkness again. “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats” (Matt. 25:32). Notice that it is his sheep from the goats. “I am the good shepherd, and I know My sheep and am known by them” (John 10:14). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me” (John 10:27). 

Christians are called by God to be holy and separate from the world (1 Pet. 1:15-16). “Pure religion” consists of keeping oneself “unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). To the Corinthians, Paul wrote, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness. And what communion has light with darkness” (2 Cor. 6:14). 

In Christ, we are “created” for good works (Eph. 2:10). Jesus is still creating and separating—creating saints out of sinners and calling us to live our lives for him in the midst of a crooked and perverse world.                                                         

REPRESENTATION

Man was made in the image of God. Some people try to make God in the image of man, but this they cannot do. “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness;  let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image;  in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26-27). “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood will be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (Gen. 9:6). “For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man” (1 Cor. 11:7). 

Even though man was created in the image of God, he sinned and lost that image in one sense. “Truly, this only have I found: God made man upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes” (Ecc. 7:29).

Thanks to the death of Christ, we can be a “new creation” re-made in the image of God. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). “And have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of God who created him” (Col. 3:10). 

MULTIPLICATION

“Then God blessed them and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen. 1:28). When God made the first humans, man and woman, he told them to multiply. This verse might remind us of the Great Commision. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you and Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world” (Matt. 28:19-20).  “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who believes not will be condemned” (Mk. 16:15-16).  Paul told Timothy, “And the things which you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). 

 God still wants His people to multiply. How? Through intimacy. We procreate by physical intimacy with our spouses. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord” (Gen. 4:1). “Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge” (Heb. 13:4). 

How do we procreate spiritually?  By spiritual intimacy with God. “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him” (1 Cor. 6:17).  Just as a man is one flesh with his wife, we are one spirit with the Lord. This is how fruit is produced in our lives. “Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). People will be won to Jesus through us when we abide in intimacy with Christ. Focus on Jesus.

 Every part of the Bible is useful for study. We have looked at but a few of the wonderful spiritual gems available in the first chapter of the Bible. 

Dewayne Dunaway