Genesis Devotional: Chapter One
Introduction
In John chapter five, Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, and the Jews were
furious with Him that He would work on the Sabbath. Yet all He had said
to the man by the pool was “Arise, take up your pallet, and walk.” The
problem wasn’t that He said something, the problem was that His words
effected a change, the man was healed and in obedience to the very words
that had told him to “Arise” he had picked up his pallet and walked for
the first time in 38 years. There was no rejoicing in the hearts of
those who knew of his plight, only condemnation for his brazenness in
violating their traditions.
These pious Jews found and began to persecute Jesus for His effrontery.
He was healing on the Sabbath, in stark contrast to their traditions and
interpretations of the Law. Blinded by their prejudice and legalism,
they could not see that Jesus had set free one of their own people, a
task they could not accomplish. No, they were much more interested in
discussing and debating, memorizing and fine tuning, and then telling
everyone exactly what they must do. So much talk, so much lack of loving
compassion, so little true understanding, and no power in their lives. The effrontery did not stop there; Jesus went on to speak of His union
with the Father. The Father was working and He was working. He boldly
stated the fact that God was His Father, thus making Himself equal with
God. What a revelation was shared by Jesus, as He proclaimed to the Jews
His relationship with the Father. He could do nothing unless He had
first seen it accomplished in the Father. He was totally dependent upon
the Father as the initiator of all that He would do or say, our perfect
example.
Yet He goes even farther with His challenging words:
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you
have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are
unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.” John 5:39-40 NASB
Could it be that they had missed Him as they had in some cases
fanatically studied those five books, the Pentateuch? Had He been there
all the time? If they were to hear His words now, would they be
confirmed and validated by their very own scriptures? Jesus’ words must
have puzzled them when He said “For if you believed Moses, you would
believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his
writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:46-47) NASB
Let us now as we look together, with the light that has been given us
through those that have gone before us, see Jesus in the Pentateuch, the
Jewish scriptures. These were the only scriptures available to those
that walked with Jesus and to those that followed their example of faith
until much later on.
Genesis 1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
4 God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the
darkness.
5 God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there
was evening and there was morning, one day. NASB
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”, what a power statement. A
statement pregnant with implications, a Living Word, a Manifested Word,
God spoke and His Word became flesh.
There was another time that God spoke, it was at creation. He spoke and
through the vehicle of His Word all things that are, came in to
existence. “Light be!” and light was. “Life be!” and life began. How
marvelous were these days of beginning, God would speak and all that He
had intended would come to pass, just as He said it. Out of nothing, with
not even a speck of dust to start with, would come into existence the
focus of His love and attention. Time would begin at His creation and
the clock would begin the count down toward His ultimate goal of have a
family just like the Firstborn, a people for His habitation, a bride for
His Son.
As we read these few verses do we hear within them the voice of the
Master, the incarnate Word of God proclaiming “I AM the Light of the
World”? For He alone is the Light that comes from above, the Light that
separated darkness from all that is holy, just and loving. Truly at His
entrance into this world as the express image of the Father, there was a
new dawning as the Dayspring of God broke forth upon the darkness of this
world and “Light became!”
This Light would stand through the ages in stark contrast to all else
that would try to claim that eternal position as the “Light of the
world.” All others would pale before Him. Their puny efforts would only
reinforce the futility of men without the intervention of God Himself.
God spoke at creation and light came into being. God spoke at the
incarnation and the true Illumination came to all men. John 12:46 “I
have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me
will not remain in darkness.” NASB
Genesis 1: 20 Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living
creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the
heavens.”
21 God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that
moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged
bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
23 There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after
their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after
their kind”; and it was so.
25 God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle
after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its
kind; and God saw that it was good. NASB
Prior to the creation of man, Elohim God, (His name expressing the
plurality of unity within the godhead), put in place an eternal
principle, not only within nature but in the universe and the spiritual
realm as well. Everything that could produce fruit would produce fruit
after its own kind. This principle would be inviolable through out the
creation of God.
The outcome, is seen first in nature, like would give birth to like,
sheep would produce more sheep, chickens would produce more chickens,
peaches would produce more peaches, and corn would produce more corn.
There would be no question about this as a fact of nature, it can be seen
on every hand and in every back yard, like begets like.
Secondly, we see this principle in the unseen realm. This is the realm
of eternal consequences. A realm where salt water and fresh water, figs
and thorns, light and darkness can not be mingled together, it is one or
the other but not both. Like will beget like, each after its own kind.
The good tree will produce good fruit. That which flows freely from a
person’s speech will be birthed out of the inmost recesses of his heart.
Those things which are birthed or begun in the flesh will produce fleshly
results and those things which are birthed or begun in the spirit will
produce spiritual results. This principle can not be circumvented with
thoughts that say, “The end justifies the means,” nor with grandiose
motives and expansive plans and purposes, regardless of how good and
right they may seem.
Matthew 7: 15-20 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in
sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them
by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from
thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad
tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a
bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is
cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their
fruits.” NASB
Matthew 12:34 “…For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.”
NASB
John 3: 6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit.” NASB
Thirdly, we see this principle in what I call the realm of eternal
design. This is the sphere where our Lord brings to pass His desire
within the Church, His body. From eternity past it was in the heart of
God to have a family that would be just like the Ever-existing Firstborn,
a people after His own heart, a people that bore His likeness for they
had been begotten in Christ and would bear His glory, His nature and His
character.
There was another purpose as well, a glorious union of which our earthly
marriages speak only in shadow. This union would be between the Christ
of God and this people that were like Him in every way. They had been
transformed by His active working within them, to accomplish His desire
and to produce a corporate bride that would compliment Him. Because like
must be in union with like, He would transform this people into a bride
fit for Himself, a bride that was like He was for she would bear His
image.
Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become
conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn
among many brethren; NASB
Ephesians 5:25-27 …just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself
up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the
church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but
that she would be holy and blameless. NASB
Genesis 1: 26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the
sea
and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply,
and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and
over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the
earth.”
29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed
that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit
yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to
every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every
green plant for food”; and it was so.
31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there
was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. NASB
God, looking down through time to eternity future, and knowing the sinful
failure of those in His likeness; and knowing that, in your face
rejection, that He would receive from His own; and knowing the price He
would have to pay to ransom back His possession; He, still with clarity
of His purposes and a view toward their ultimate fulfillment, said “Let
Us make man..”
In the eternal design of the All Knowing God there was no plan “B”, there
was only the inexorable move toward His predestined conclusion. He would
have a people that would dwell with Him forever. This people would draw
life from an everlasting source, His very being. They would be enabled
because they were created in His image and likeness to partake of His
nature. They would be able to commune with Him, not just as created to
creator, but as friend to friend, as a son to his father.
As sons bear the image of their parents, so this people would bear the
image of their Heavenly Father. He fashioned this people with the
artistry of one desiring to see the ultimate expression of his craft.
His finest work would be on display for the entire universe to see.
Principalities and powers would be amazed at the frail appearance of this
creation and wonder at the investment made by the Eternal God of the
Universe. Time would pass, and they would with derision and scorn, laugh
at this creation made in His image. A creation that was at times so
self-willed and filled with its own importance, that it would even forget
its Loving Creator.
But He knew His plan would not be thwarted, for He had blessed this
pinnacle of His creation. They would multiply, they would subdue the
earth, they would bear His image, and they would truly become all that He
had desired for them to be. This people, bearing His Image, would in the
final analysis arise by the power of His might and grace to become all
that He had intended. The powers and principalities would be silenced
and without excuse. Darkness would give way to light, and He would
embrace those that are like Himself for the rest of eternity.
“God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” NASB
A devotional by Mike Dillard