REFLECTIONS ON SCRIPTURE: SOME PATTERNS IN GENESIS Part Two
Following the first part, where we see God’s taming of the chaotic world in the first three days, we continue in this post by seeing God’s glorification and beautification of his creation in the remaining four days. If you notice, you can check the image above this post, it’s looking like God is building a house, and you’d be right if you said so. Creation is God’s temple, his house where he intends to dwell with us (Revelations 21:3). DAY FOUR:
Following God’s initial glorification of the land with his life, filling it with plants, in preparation for something bigger, he glorifies the sky, note the sea isn’t mentioned yet, because this is from heaven to earth, up to down.
He declare there to be lights in the sky to separate day and night, he delegates His authority to “lights” (Remember In Matthew 5:14 when Jesus said we are the light of the world?), glorified appointed ones, given his light, as God is the source of all light, intended to govern day night, seasons and years, in essence, time and the proper functioning of creation.
In the first part, I said light gives purpose to the darkness, you can see that here also, the governing lights, the stars and moon, give purpose to the night by pointing to the greater light of the day, the Sun, as well as another purpose revealed later. You could ask why He didn’t do this before He created plants, since sky is higher than land, and the answer would be thus: what is a king without his subjects? Seasons and times make sense if there is something dynamic to govern, land and sea are blank slates without life, and that is not governable. Life is dynamic, it multiplies, meaning it is when life arises that governance of any kind becomes needed. But that is not all, there is another related purpose, and it is revealed on the sixth day of the creation week, let’s continue…
DAY FIVE:
Now that Land and Sky are glorified, the Spirit stirs up the Sea once more.
God declares life into the Sea, it begins teeming with fish and other sea life.
The Spirit ascending from a fruitful sea, and on its way to heaven, fertilizes the air, the expanse below the firmament of water is now teeming with birds just as God declared.
They are blessed, told to multiply, and be fruitful, for He is pleased with them.
DAY SIX:
It is a new day, the Spirit begins his descent once more, God declares animal life into the Land. The Spirit once again glorifies the Land with new life, building on the previous glory, becoming a greater glory.
Now comes the penultimate creation, for whom the house of creation is built, for whom the plants are fruitful and for whom there are seasons, for whom creation is stable and for whom the Trinitarian God fashioned the stars and mountains. Elohim declares that He will create humanity, the species in whom he will reflect his image. The image of God is not really our biology or intelligence, our physical features or our consciousness. The Image of God is Jesus Christ, the beginning and source of creation, man was made in the Image of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is King, He rules creation. Therefore we are called to rule over creation in His name, for he is the image we mirror. Christ is the person that fills creation with beauty and purpose, we follow him in this work.
Since Christ is our model, we can then understand the following statements: “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. 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 1:26-28) Only Christ has dominion, therefore his only his representatives have dominion, this is our Identity, the Image of God, Jesus Christ is our source of Identity. Our unique features and attributes are the result of our calling in Christ as God’s image. They are not the defining Characteristic of God’s image, rather they are the periphery, the result of the calling. DAY SEVEN:
Thus ends God’s great creation work, He blesses it and calls this day Holy, thereby calling His completed creation Holy, for the seventh day, the first Sabbath, the Sabbath itself is the end of Creation, it’s fulfillment. Man enters the Sabbath with all creation, and finds rest, for this is the Holiest day, the Holy of Holies of time, which is rest in God.
If you look closely, we can see a temple of time even in this seven day progression, but that is beyond the scope of this post. It will be the subject of part three. All this is just the first step, this is creation, there is still a recreation to come, a new heaven and earth, this time both worlds reunite in a greater unity. I hope this has been enlightening, if you have any questions, you are always free to ask in the comments section. Thank you guys and God’s great peace to you