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Scripture Reading: Gen. 1
In this chapter we want to begin to see illustrations of receiving revelation from the holy Word and seeing vision through revelation by considering the facts, the revelation, and the visions in Genesis 1.
First, we must be familiar with the facts of the contents of the Bible.
The facts in Genesis 1 begin with God creating the heavens and the earth, and the earth becoming waste and emptiness (vv. 1-2a).
God restored and remade the universe by His Spirit, His word, and His light (vv. 2b-31). On the first day light came to separate the light, day, from the darkness, night (vv. 3-5). On the second day God made an expanse to separate the waters from the waters (vv. 6-8). On the third day God gathered the waters under the heavens together into one place, the dry land emerged, and the grass, herbs, and fruit trees were brought forth (vv. 9-13). On the fourth day God made the stronger lights—the sun, the moon, and the stars (vv. 14-19). On the fifth day God created the aquatics in the seas and the birds in the air (vv. 20-23). On the sixth day God made the beasts, the cattle, the insects, and the creeping things, and last, He created man in His image and according to His likeness to rule over all His created things (vv. 24-31). These are the facts recorded in Genesis 1. Anyone who can read carefully can get these facts. But the Bible is more than a book of facts. It is a book of revelation. Thus, we have to learn how to receive revelation through the facts of the Word.
Genesis 1 reveals that God’s creation was according to His will for the accomplishment of His economy (Rev. 4:11; Eph. 1:10).
Genesis 1 also reveals that God’s creation is His testimony for man to know Him and seek after Him (Psa. 19:1-2; Rom. 1:20; Acts 14:15, 17; 17:24-27).
Genesis 1 shows that God’s creation was through Christ (John 1:3; Col. 1:16), the embodiment of the Triune God, as the Spirit, who is His reality; as the Word of God, who is the definition of God (John 1:1); and as the light. The Spirit, the Word, and the light were the instruments used by God to create the heavens and the earth. Christ is the Spirit, the reality of God; Christ is the Word, the speaking of God; and Christ is the light, the shining of God. Furthermore, the Spirit is of life, the Word is of life, and the light is of life.
In Genesis 1 the dry land emerging on the third day typifies Christ resurrected, emerged, from the waters of death to produce all kinds of life.
The plant life typifies the rich expression of the unsearchable riches of the life of Christ in their beauty for man’s sight (2:9), in their fragrance (S. S. 1:12-13), and in their nourishing man and animals (Gen. 1:29-30). The plant life also typifies the rich expression of Christ’s life in Christ being the trees (2:9; Exo. 15:23-25 S. S. 2:3; Ezek. 34:29; Isa. 11:1; John 15:1, 5; Rev. 22:2), the flowers (S. S. 1:14), the food for man (John 6:9, 13; Matt. 14:19-20; 26-27, 15:36-37; Rev. 2:7, 17), and the offerings to God (Lev. 2:1-3, 14). Christ fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish. The loaves were from the plant life, so that was food for man. Also, the meal offering was made of fine flour of wheat for God’s people to eat as their food in their fellowship with God.
The animal life in the sea typifies the riches of the life of Christ in the power that overcomes death (salt water) in His living. The water in the sea is salt water, but the fish still can live in it. That is a picture of Christ’s life in us, showing that we can live in this world against all the salt, the things of death. The animal life in the sea also shows the riches of Christ’s life in feeding man with His riches (John 6:9a; 21:9).
The animal life in the air typifies the riches of the life of Christ in Christ as the eagle for carrying God’s redeemed to His destination (Exo. 19:4; Deut. 32:11-12; Isa. 40:31; Rev. 12:14) and in Christ as the turtledoves or pigeons for offering to God for the sins of God’s people (Lev. 1:14; 5:7).
The beasts and the cattle on the land typify the riches of the life of Christ in Christ as the conquering lion (Gen. 49:8-9; Rev. 5:5) to fight for God’s economy and in Christ as the sheep and oxen for offering to God for the fulfillment of God’s full redemption (Lev. 1:2-3, 10; 3:1, 6, 12; 4:3; 5:6; John 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 5:6-8, 12-13; 12:11; 21:9, 23; 22:1, 3). John the Baptist declared that Christ was the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Man typifies Christ (Gen. 1:26-28; Rom. 5:14; 1 Cor. 15:45; Psa. 8:4-8; Heb. 2:6-9) as the head of all creation (1 Cor. 11:3) and as God’s expression in God’s image and likeness (Heb. 1:3; 2 Cor. 4:4; Col. 1:15), representing God to rule over all things created by God (Gen. 1:28). Without the plant life, the animal life, and the human life, the earth would be waste and empty. The earth’s beauty and riches are dependent upon all the different kinds of life.
God’s creation is centered on life to reach the goal of expressing and representing God. The Spirit, the word, and the light refer to life. The resurrected Christ is typified by the dry land producing all kinds of life. Eventually, out of the dust of this land, God created a man in His image and according to His likeness to represent and express Him.
We need a vision to see that God created the heavens and the earth in order according to His purpose so that the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7). The morning stars and the sons of God here refer to the angels. After God’s original creation God’s enemy Satan rebelled against God (Isa. 14:13-14; Ezek. 28:15-18), God judged the universe defiled by Satan’s rebellion (Job 9:5-7), and the earth became waste and empty (Gen. 1:2). Then God restored the condemned universe mainly to restore the land, typifying Christ as the center of God’s economy, for the producing of all kinds of life for the accomplishment of His economy (vv. 1-5).
We need a vision to see that Christ, typified by the land, as the centrality and universality of God’s economy, resurrected, emerged, from the waters of death to produce, according to the riches of His life, lives in different aspects, typified by the plant life, the animal life in the sea and in the air, the beasts and cattle on the land, and the life of man to be one with God, expressing and representing God (vv. 6-28).
Finally, we need a vision to see that the Triune God, in Christ as His embodiment, made man one with Him to be multiplied and duplicated for producing the Body of Christ as His enlargement and counterpart, as illustrated in the next chapter, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem (vv. 26-28).
