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After God’s original creation became waste and emptiness because of His judgment, the whole universe fell under a curse. We do not know how long this situation lasted, but it must have been quite a long time. Then at a certain point God began His work of restoring creation.
God restored His work of creation because He did not achieve His desire and good pleasure in the original creation. God’s eternal plan and will were not accomplished, and there was a further need to deal with Satan’s rebellion. Therefore, God had to restore the created world.
Ephesians 1:10 says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” Revelation 4:11 says, “You have created all things, and because of Your will they were, and were created.” Thus, we see that God’s restoration of creation was based on His plan and will.
The means of God’s restoration of creation was the Son of God and His word (Col. 1:15-16; Heb. 11:3; John 1:1-3).
Genesis 1 and 2 give a record of the process of God’s restoration of creation. We need to consider this process carefully. When reading Genesis concerning the process of God’s restoration of creation, we must consider not only the facts of what God did on the first day, the second day, and so forth. Many things in the Bible, especially in the beginning book of Genesis and the concluding book of Revelation, do not contain much detail. Hence, we must see not only the facts but also what is implied by the facts. We must listen to the story of creation not as if we were merely children who want to learn some facts. We should instead seek God’s light. Hence, we must see what is spiritually implied in this book of the Bible.
If we have God’s light, we will see that life is the center and subject of the process of God’s creation in Genesis 1. In this chapter God’s attention is focused on things related to life. God created countless things in the universe, but He did not mention them. Instead, in this simple record of creation He provided details related to life and living creatures. This proves that in creation God’s attention is on the matter of life.
If we look carefully into the process of God’s restoration of creation, we will see a line of life. According to fact, God created many kinds of life, beginning with the lower forms of life, before He created the human life. The spiritual implications of this line of life can be applied to our spiritual life. The steps of God’s work preceding the creation of life speak of the conditions that are necessary for generating spiritual life, and the appearing of various kinds of life can be considered as the steps in the growth of our spiritual life. This understanding is not a random thought. I believe that these implications were present when the Holy Spirit inspired the writing of the Holy Scriptures. We will now consider step by step the process of creation.
Genesis 1:2 says, “The earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters.” The first step in God’s restoration of creation was the coming of the Spirit. Because of God’s judgment, the earth was under deep waters and was covered by darkness. Both water and darkness in verse 2 symbolize death, indicating that the earth was in a situation of death; that is, it was lifeless.
The earth was covered by darkness when God accomplished the first step of His work—the coming of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is always the means by which God works. The Spirit of God came to eliminate death and to bring in life. The Spirit of God is the Spirit of life; in Him is life. Whenever a place needs life, it needs the Spirit of God. When the Spirit of God comes, He brings life. Therefore, the first step of God’s work on the death-filled earth was for His Spirit to brood upon the death waters.
Spiritually speaking, the coming of the Spirit of God is the first requirement to generate the divine life. The creation of living creatures required the brooding of the Spirit of God, and the receiving of the life of God also requires the operation of the Holy Spirit. The life of God is with the Spirit of God. Before we were saved, we were filled with death and darkness; we were lifeless within. Hence, the Spirit reaching us was the first step that God took in generating His life in us.
Verse 3 says, “God said, Let there be light; and there was light.” When the word of God comes, it brings in light. God’s work always begins with light. God judges with darkness and restores with light. Darkness involves death in an old situation, but light generates a new situation. Water and darkness came in because of Satan’s rebellion. Therefore, God’s restoration of creation involved the elimination of death and darkness by the Spirit and light.
The light in verse 3 signifies Christ as the light of the world (John 9:5; 8:12; 1:4-9; 12:46). The life of God enters into man through the shining of Christ. Wherever the light of Christ shines, there is life. Second Corinthians 4:6 says, “The God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” This means that the life of God shines into us through light. When the word of God comes, it brings light, and light brings life. Therefore, the coming of the word and of light is a requirement for generating life.
Genesis 1:4-5 says, “God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night.” Shining is the work of God, and the result of shining is separation. Nothing remains unseparated from darkness after being shined upon by God. Only that which is in darkness remains unseparated.
God’s work always separates light from darkness. God never allows that which is of Him to be joined to that which is of Satan. Second Corinthians 6:14-16 says, “What partnership do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? And what concord does Christ have with Belial? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols?” Light and darkness can never be joined; they must be separated.
The result of the separation of light from darkness is the establishment of day and night, the demarcation of which is related to light. God continued His work in the light in order to generate life. Therefore, the separation of light from darkness is also a requirement for generating life.
Genesis 1:6-7 says, “God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and separated the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse.” God separated light from darkness on the first day, and He separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse on the second day. Deep waters were on the surface of the earth, which was full of death, but God created an expanse to separate the death waters.
The Spirit of God does not only bring light; He also separates that which is above from that which is below. When the Spirit of God comes, light shines to separate that which is above from that which is below, the heavenly from the earthly, the spiritual from the fleshly, and that which is of God from that which is of the devil. These separations give God the ground to continue His work of generating life.
Verses 9 and 10 say, “God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas.” On the third day God did not create dry land; rather, He restored the land that had been judged and was covered by deep waters. By this time light had been separated from darkness, and the waters were separated from the land. God’s work always involves a series of separations.
God separated the waters from the land in order to generate life, because water symbolizes death, and the land is where life is generated. Plants and animals grow on land. Hence, the land symbolizes life. However, the separation of that which was above from that which was below was not enough; life still had to be separated from death. With the separation of the waters from the land, all the requirements for generating life were met.
Verse 11 says, “God said, Let the earth sprout grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kind with their seed in them upon the earth; and it was so.” When the five requirements for generating life were met, God began to create life on the third day. After dry land appeared, life was generated.
Our receiving the life of God followed this principle. We were fallen men living in sin, darkened in our understanding, and blinded by the evil one. We were completely alienated from the life of God because of our ignorance and the hardness of our heart (Eph. 4:18), and we were utterly ignorant of spiritual things. The wrath of God was abiding upon us (John 3:36). This was also the condition of the judged and cursed earth.
But because of His mercy, God sent His Spirit to touch us, and the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ shined upon us and manifested our darkened condition to us (2 Cor. 4:4). Then we understood that our past deeds were shameful and would end in death. We also realized that light is versus darkness, that what is heavenly is versus what is earthly, and that life is versus death. As a result, we repented of our past, rejected darkness, and accepted the Lord Jesus as our Savior. Then the life of God entered into us to regenerate us, and we were saved. This shows that in order for the life of God to be generated in man, God must carry out several steps of His preparatory work. As soon as these requirements are met, the life of God is generated in man.
However, the life that is generated at this stage is like the immature plant life. The plant life is the lowest and most primitive form of life. Plant life does not have feeling or consciousness. This indicates that the condition of the life that we received when we were regenerated was immature; it was not yet solid, nor did it have a keen sense of feeling or consciousness. Hence, it is not sufficient for us to remain in this stage. We must grow.
Genesis 1:14-15 says, “God said, Let there be light-bearers in the expanse of heaven to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be light-bearers in the expanse of heaven to give light on the earth; and it was so.” In the process of restoring creation, God’s seventh step was to cause the light-bearers to appear in the expanse on the fourth day. Verse 16 says, “God made the two great light-bearers, the greater light-bearer to rule the day and the lesser light-bearer to rule the night, and the stars.” The word made here means “produced” in Hebrew; this is different from created. To create is to bring something into existence out of nothing, but to make is to take something that already exists and produce another thing out of it. On the fourth day God did not create the sun, the moon, or the stars out of nothing; He restored the existing light-bearers that had been judged (Job 9:7-8). On the first day light shined on the earth. This light had to be from the light-bearers. However, only light could be seen, not the light-bearers. On the fourth day God made the light-bearers appear.
Some may ask why God did not create the animal life immediately after He created the plant life on the third day; why did He instead restore the light-bearers? This is very significant. We must see that what God did on the fourth day is still for life, that is, for life to grow. We have said that life is closely related to the shining of light. In order for God to generate life, there is a prerequisite—the shining of light. Only with the light of the first day is it possible for there to be the generating of the plant life on the third day. When light shines, life comes. Wherever there is light, there is life. Life always follows light. However, the relationship between life and light does not stop with the third day. Not only is the generation of life based on light; the growth of life is also based on light. Just as the beginning of life requires light, the strengthening of life requires light as well. The strength of light determines the strength of life. This is an unalterable law.
The light that God caused to shine on the first day brought in the plant life, which is low and immature. God created only a low and immature life, because the light was not strong. The light of the first day was vague and indefinite, and therefore it could produce only a life that is low and immature, a life without feeling or consciousness. When God wanted life to grow, that is, to be expressed in a higher life, this vague light was not sufficient. Therefore, on the fourth day God made the light-bearers to appear. Then the light became definite, solid, and intensified. The sun, the moon, and the stars were set in the expanse of heaven in order to give light on the earth. Then God could create a higher form of life, the animal life.
The lights that bring forth life have a spiritual implication. We must apply this to ourselves and not take it as doctrine. We must ask ourselves concerning the condition of the light within us. The strength of the light of God within us indicates how much His life within us has grown. In order for our spiritual life to grow, we must receive a stronger shining. Only a stronger shining can cause more growth in life.
Genesis 1:16-18 says, “God made the two great light-bearers, the greater light-bearer to rule the day and the lesser light-bearer to rule the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of heaven to give light on the earth and to rule over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness, and God saw that it was good.” After the sun, the moon, and the stars were restored, God arranged for them to rule over the day and over the night and to separate the light from the darkness. This shows that with the appearing of definite light-bearers, there was a ruling over the day and over the night. Furthermore, the separation of the light from the darkness was strengthened. With the shining of the first-day light, there was a separation of light from darkness and of the day from night. But this separation was indefinite, because the light was not strong. The light of the fourth day, however, was strong; therefore, the separation of the light from the darkness was more definite.
The strengthening of the separation is also a requirement for life to grow. When the shining that we receive intensifies, we are able to clearly differentiate what is of God from what is not of God. The more separation we experience, the more we will be delivered from the earthly to the heavenly and from the fleshly to the spiritual. As a result, the life within us will grow further.
Verses 20 and 21 say, “God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living animals, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of heaven. And God created the great sea creatures and every living animal that moves, with which the waters swarmed, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.” Since there were light-bearers, God began to create animal life on the fifth day. This signifies that when the shining that we receive within is intensified and when the separation in our walk is more evident, the life of God in us will grow to a higher level.
The animal life is a higher life, possessing feeling and consciousness. The animal life can be divided into a few levels. The first level involves the animals in the water, such as fish. Although fish are the lowest form of animal life, their life is much higher than the plant life. The fish life is higher than the plant life because fish have more consciousness and feeling than plants and because fish can live in water. Trees and vegetables can grow on land, but fish can swim around and live in water. Therefore, the animal life in water is higher than the plant life.
This also applies to the growth of our spiritual life. The more life grows, the richer and stronger our feelings and consciousness become. Those who know the Bible know that the land symbolizes life and that water symbolizes death. When our spiritual life is young, we can grow only in an environment of life. We are unable to stand when we encounter an environment of death, because our spiritual life is not strong enough to withstand the pressure of the authority of death. However, as our spiritual life grows, our inner strength increases so that we are able to move around in an environment that is full of the power of death.
For example, even though many brothers and sisters have a heart to serve God, new believers are young and tender in their desire to serve; hence, they cannot bear any difficulties. If they are admired and encouraged, they serve energetically and are willing to give everything to the Lord. However, if they suffer difficulties, they immediately lose heart and can even stop coming to the meetings. Experienced brothers and sisters, however, serve whether they are praised, suffer difficulties, or are misunderstood. They are not affected by their environment but are able to stand firm.
These differences between young believers and experienced believers can be seen in the bread-breaking meeting. When the atmosphere of the bread-breaking meeting is fresh, lively, and full of the Spirit’s operation, the young praise loudly; but when the atmosphere of the meeting is a little down, they are silent and do not know what to say. The experienced brothers and sisters, however, can still exercise their spirit in a deadened and down meeting, breaking through the pressing atmosphere and enlivening others from within.
These examples show that those who are young in the divine life grow only in an environment of life, but those who are experienced in life can move about in an environment of death. Such experienced brothers and sisters have the higher “fish” life.
On the fifth day God also created the second level of animal life, the bird life. This level of life is higher than the fish life, because it can transcend the encumbrances of the earth and is not limited by the earth; rather, it lives in a heavenly realm. Even in terms of consciousness, the bird life is higher than the fish life.
The steps of our spiritual growth in life develop in the same way. Our initial life is young, vague, and indefinite; it lacks consciousness and feeling and can live only in an environment of life. As the light of God’s life becomes more solid and intensified in us, our spiritual life is uplifted and grows. It can be likened to the fish life that can grow even in an environment of death.
As our spiritual life continues to grow, we will manifest a transcendent condition that can be likened to the bird life. This means that although we are living on the earth, we are not of the earth and are not usurped by the things of the earth. Instead, we seek the things that are above. At this time we have more growth in life.
Verses 24 and 25 say, “God said, Let the earth bring forth living animals according to their kind, cattle and creeping things and animals of the earth according to their kind; and it was so. And God made the animals of the earth according to their kind and the cattle according to their kind and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind, and God saw that it was good.” On the sixth day God created the third level of animal life, the animals of the earth. The animals of the earth have a higher level of life because they have a higher level of consciousness. This level of life also symbolizes further growth in our spiritual life, a growth that enables us to move on the earth, to serve God, and to work for God.
When our spiritual life grows to this level, we can truly work by life for God. Even though believers can and should serve God as soon as they are saved, their initial serving derives mainly from their abilities and methods. Believers who grow to the extent of being transcendent often only live an individual transcendent spiritual life. They are not able to work for God or to labor and serve others in harsh environments. It is easy for them to touch the Lord, to feel free, and to be at ease in personal prayer, but it is difficult for them to maintain this transcendent condition when things are busy outwardly. Such believers can only be Marys, not Marthas (Luke 10:38-40; John 12:2-3). In other words, they have only the bird life, not the life of the animals of the earth. Believers who have the life of the animals of the earth have both a personal spiritual life and a spiritual work before God. They can outwardly be as busy as Martha but inwardly be as quiet as Mary at the Lord’s feet. Whether they are still or drawn about, alone or busy serving with others, they can live by life before God. Such believers have an even higher growth in life.
Genesis 1:26 says, “God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” After God created all the living animals, He created man. Among all created life man has the highest consciousness and the highest level of life. In God’s restoration of creation His ultimate desire is to gain man. Therefore, God’s creation of man differs from His creation of other creatures; it began with a council of the Godhead. “God said, Let Us...”; this is the first time in the Bible that God called Himself “Us.” This shows that God is triune. The Triune God had a council of the Godhead concerning the creation of man. In this council God determined to create the highest level of life—man—in His image and according to His likeness.
According to spiritual significance, this signifies the life of God maturing in us. In the process of creation the life of man is likened to the life of God. The end of our growth in life is our becoming like God. This matter is initiated by God and determined by God; He will conform us to the image of His Son and glorify us (Rom. 8:29-30). God has determined this and will carry it out in us. Therefore, the maturity of life is God’s will, is of God, and is initiated by God.
Genesis 1:27 and 28 say, “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” This is the final step of God’s creation.
Verse 26 mentions the council of God concerning the creation of man. Verses 27 and 28 mention the carrying out of God’s creation of man. The man that God created had the highest level of created life on the earth, possessing God’s image to have dominion for Him. Then God’s creation was complete. This signifies the maturity of life. When God’s life matures within us, we are able to express God’s image and have dominion for God.
From the process of God’s restoration of creation, we can see that God’s restoration of creation is focused on three things. The first focus of God’s restoration of creation is to gain the earth. The Spirit and light came and did many works of separation in order to remove the traces of judgment and the curse and to cause the harmony and beauty of creation to reappear on the earth. When the earth was restored, God gained a place on which life could grow and where He could reign. Therefore, the earth is a focus of God’s attention in His creation.
The second focus of God’s restoration of creation is to gain man. From the record of God’s restoration of creation, we see that God’s creation is for gaining man. Every step of God’s creation was a preparatory work for God to create man. When man was created, God’s work was finished, and He rested (vv. 26, 31; 2:1-3). The goal of God’s creation is to gain man, because only man can express God’s image, rule and have dominion on the earth, and deal with God’s enemy (1:26, 28). Thus, only man can achieve God’s purpose and give God rest. The focus of God’s creation is to gain man so that God’s purpose may be achieved.
The third focus of God’s restoration of creation is to have life. In Genesis God repeatedly paid attention to life. God created countless things, but He did not mention them; He mentioned only the things related to life and the living creatures. This shows that God’s creation is focused on life.
Every form of life that God mentioned has implications for our spiritual life because God knows that only His life can achieve His purpose. However, only by His life growing in man unto maturity can man express God and exercise dominion for Him. This is the reason that God paid particular attention to life in His work of creation.
