REFLECTIONS ON SCRIPTURE: CREATION AND RECREATION IN GENESIS AND REVELATION
So I’ve decided to start reading my bible from scratch, keeping in mind the new things I’ve learned about it over the past few months and years. The funny thing is… I couldn’t get past the first few statements of Genesis One. I read verse one and two again and again trying to make sense of it. Actually I read Revelation 21 and 22 before Genesis to get a sense of the goal of the first creation. While reading the bible story, it is good to read it backwards often in order to get an insight into the overall purpose and direction of the story, connecting themes and so on.
The problem was, due to my understanding of what the sciences were discovering about evolution, astronomy and so on, my perspective on Genesis got changed drastically. I didn’t understand why the bible said six days when the evidence seemed to suggest billions of years, and there was the problem of Adam, who was He and how he’s relevant to us. But that’s possibly beyond the scope of this post.
The point of this post is the first two verses if Genesis 1, which say:
“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.” (KJV)
Or in the New King James Version (NKJV)
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 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.”
Now here my annoying pattern connecting head began to connect verses that I may or may not have connected before, but the connection was definitely there. Here is the connection: that the beginning mentioned (and highlighted by me) is not strictly interpreted as a beginning in a temporal sense, meaning it probably refers to a time when the world began, or when time itself began, but that is not the only interpretation. The beginning mentioned also refers to the “place” and “source” of God’s creation. This “place” and “source” is none other than the second person of the Trinity Himself, Jesus Christ the Incarnate One.
Before you scratch your head for too long, think about this:
Revelation 22:13: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last."
Jesus identifies Himself as the beginning of all things, their source and place, even their place of return, their end or purpose. John makes that connection also:
John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
There’s also Paul’s famous statement in Athens:
Acts 17:28: "for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'
The main principle I had to learn when reading scripture is to read scripture in the light of Jesus Christ’s self-revelation in the incarnation (His life, death, resurrection and ascension). I learned that I (and I’m sure a lot of us are included in this) we usually read the Scriptures as if Jesus is Just one part of the story, and incident located in one part of the story, maybe even a backup plan for Adam’s and our sin. It spills over into our reading of the Old Testament, even the New Testament is affected. It colors our perception of today’s events because we see the world seemingly going to hell and we think God has abandoned the earth, so we’d rather escape, either by “rapture” or by death (at least after “enjoying” life).
But the Bible tells a different story, a story about creation and recreation in and by Christ, both creation and recreation are in Him, Jesus is the original plan, whether Adam sinned or not.
And I saw this in Genesis, if we replace “the beginning” with Jesus the Christ, we get:
“In Jesus the Christ, 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 here the Trinitarian formula is seen in this statement, now let’s replace “God” with “the Father” and highlight “the Spirit of God”:
“In Jesus the Christ, the Father 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.”
Can you see the Trinity? I sure can, and it’s awesome to see them (Or should I say Him?), because it means I’m on the right track. If you can see Jesus, you can see the Father, and you can see the Spirit, and they illuminate your path.
P.S. This is the first post on a series on my reflections on scripture as I read from scratch, I will put it in its own category appropriately called “Reflections on Scripture”. There will be further posts in the future as I continue reading, there is not a definite number I’m aiming for, but it’s a journey I’ve decided to embark on. I invite you to join me, I have a feeling this is going to be fun.