Genesis 1

[color=003333]Hi Moorsey

Thank you so much for starting this thread. I knew about some of the parallels between Genesis 1 and the New Creation but hadn't followed it through, it's a real blessings.

So far, in response I have this:[/color]

Genesis 1 (NKJV)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

[color=000099]There is a “shapelessness”, a confusion in someone without Christ. Yet the Holy Spirit is near, waiting to put the Word of Life into effect[/color]

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good;

[color=003333] At last! “once I was blind, now I see[/color]

and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

[color=003333] Always He must divide in us between the Light and the darkness, the spiritually clean and the unclean. When the Light illuminates our darkness we see that the darkness is wrong, and He begins to divide us from it. Many things, ways, attitudes, possessions, occupations, even maybe certain friends, have to go.[/color]

6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were kabove the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

[color=003333] Again a further division – between heaven and earth. What does that mean? We are given a new heavenly nature and we begin to see things from His point of view, rather than man’s.

There’s far more there, but can’t grasp it yet.[/color]

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the ofruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

[color=003333]God begins to make us fruitful spiritually. He increases in our lives as the living Seed works His life in us.[/color]

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the slesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

[color=003333]We begin to understand more, discern between light and darkness. We begin to hear His voice more clearly and get our direction from the Lord, begin to learn to walk with Him.[/color]

20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

[color=003333]Not sure, but is that to do with the abundance of Life, the fullness of the Spirit in our lives?[/color]

26 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.” 27 So God created man ain His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and dsubdue 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.”
29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to fevery beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

[color=003333]We begin to grow to be more like Jesus, and to learn the exercise of His authority and His victory in the Cross in our lives and circumstances. We begin to be of those who are overcomers (Revelations 2-3 etc)[/color]

Chapter 2\tThus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God cblessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

[color=003333]The key to all! Adam began there! He was created towards the end of the sixth day, then night came and he rested.

When all was finished Jesus rested, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit” He rested on the seventh day also, then on the eighth day the work from that place of rest began – Eight is symbolic of resurrection, the beginning of a new week.

That’s as far as I’ve got with this, look forward to others’ contributions.

Jeannette
[/color]

Moorsey asked

Why did God on the second day not declare His work as good?

Because Jesus, the Word and the Light, begotten, not made, is the only Good.

I take a more symbolic view of the book of Genesis than most on this board.

On Day One, "the earth was without form, and void". "Without form", not a planet, not even a sphere, a "void" - a no-thing. No orbit around the Sun (since the Sun wasn't made either until Day Four) and no twenty-four hour rotation.

I therefore don't believe in a literal six twenty-four-hour days like the Creationists.

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." (GEN 1:3-5)

God spoke the Word and brought forth Light. Who is this Light?

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. [b]In him was life; and the life was the light of men.[/b] And the light shined in the darkness; and the darkness comprhended it not." (JOHN 1:1-5)

"Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." (PSALM 119:105)

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, [it is] because [there is] no light in them." (ISAIAH 8:20)

"Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, [b]I am the light of the world[/b]: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." (JOHN 8:12)

"As long as I am in the world, [b]I am the light of the world.[/b]" (JOHN 9:5)

"In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest [b]the light of the glorious gospel of Christ[/b], who is the image of God, should shine unto them." (II COR 4:4)

"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (II PET 1:19)

Corey_H wrote:
I take a more symbolic view of the book of Genesis than most on this board.

...On Day One, "the earth was without form, and void". "Without form", not a planet, not even a sphere, a "void" - a no-thing. No orbit around the Sun (since the Sun wasn't made either until Day Four) and no twenty-four hour rotation.

I [i][u]therefore[/u][/i] don't believe in a literal six twenty-four-hour days like the Creationists...

I have a question about the “therefore”. What is it there for? 8-)

Two points:

1. What's stopping Genesis 1 being BOTH literal AND symbolic? This is so in much of Scripture - for example, Ezekiel acted out several of his prophecies, and Jesus' parables were sometimes acted out symbolism (such as cursing the fig tree; there's no reason to doubt that it did actually wither. But Jesus wasn't into destroying fig trees just to show He could - He meant something by it, it was a symbolic action).

So what's the problem with taking Genesis 1 as both literal and symbolic?

2. Whatever shape or no shape the earth was in "in the beginning", why do you think it makes any difference to our understanding of the chapter? Creation could still have taken 6 days to complete.

In other words, what connection has

[/i][color=000099][i]I take a more symbolic view of the book of Genesis than most on this board[/i][/color]

[i][color=000099]...On Day One, "the earth was without form, and void". "Without form", not a planet, not even a sphere, a "void" - a no-thing. No orbit around the Sun (since the Sun wasn't made either until Day Four) and no twenty-four hour rotation.[/color][/i]

Mmmm - interesting thing to ponder on – never thought of it that way before…

But I can see no reason why God didn't simply arrange things such as the earth's rotation, to fit in with a pre-existing period of time that He'd just invented!

In fact Genesis 1 itself suggests that the sun and moon were created to [i][b]mark[/b][/i] times and seasons, day and night, not to cause day and night to happen!

God of course has no need of such markers, any more than He needs the sun to give light – He created light before the sun existed.

And of course it’s all symbolic too, as God also intended it for our instruction.

Blessings

Jeannette

Josiah777 wrote:
Brothers,

I guess if we were to step back and ask why was Genesis 1 written, would it be so that God could prove that man was created and not evolved? I think even without Genesis 1 we have ample evidence in the Scriptures that man was created and designed by God. If we make Genesis 1 a science exhibition (and I do believe that REAL science and the Bible are not in conflict), we miss the main point. There may be many true points drawn from it but not the main point.

Jesus said that Moses wrote about Him, and that it is possible to read the Scriptures in such a way as to miss the main point: Himself (see John 5:39-47). If we come to Genesis 1 (or any book and chapter of the Bible) without coming to Jesus for life, we will fall into the same hole that the Pharisees did, and our Christian life will evidence that same spiritual decay.

As far as gaps between verses 1 and 2, I have examined both arguments in depth. Isaiah 45:18 makes reference that the earth was not created in vain. But I see that godly men disagree over that; but that is not the main point either. Nobody disputes that in verse 1 that there was a chaos and when God was all done, He saw that it was very good. We are sure there is a beautiful progress from useless to useful, from darkness to light, from empty and without purpose to full and brimming over with purpose. So it is with the life of the Christian, starting off as a vile transgressor and offender to the Most High, receiving Light into his heart, and God commencing this great work of conforming to the image of His Son. Let us trust the Holy Spirit, whose job it is to reveal Christ (2 Cor. 3:17-18) to do that for us here. What does Day 1 teach me about Christ? How about Day 2 and Day 3 and so on? As Proverbs says, it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out. God's concealment in His Word has an end of revealing in view to those who hunger and thirst for it. I found much profitable meditation in these verses when Christ is the preeminent focal point and not the other side points (which are interesting, no doubt, and have enjoyed some of these "theological bull sessions"). So I am not being critical, just sharing some insights that have been helpful for me to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Him,

Ken

Thanks for these thoughts, a real blessing, and a reminder to keep focussed on the really important things.

Jeannette