Jesus in Genesis
Introduction
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Not
that we would try to force Jesus to do anything, but we don’t have to look for
places in Genesis where we can try to squeeze Him in to make Him fit. Because Jesus
is “the light of the world,” like a detective with a flashlight, all we need to
do is simply point Him at the text. For “In Your light we see light” (Psa.
36:9b). To be sure, without the Christ-Light, things are a bit shadowy in
Genesis. However, by using Jesus, we simply mean that our method of
interpretation is to let the Bible interpret Itself.
The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture, is the Scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it may be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly.[1]
“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). Genesis is the first Book of Moses. Let’s see if we can see Jesus therein.
It’s All about Jesus!
One of the things you begin to
realise when reading the opening verse of the Bible is that miraculous things
like the parting of the Red Sea, Jonah being swallowed by a great fish, the
virgin birth, Jesus feeding the five thousand, healing the sick, raising dead
people back to life – all the impossible miracles of the Bible become possible.
He is the “God who gives life to the dead and calls into being
things that were not” (Rom. 4:17b).
God
alone is Almighty. He is the Creator. Everything else is a creature. Space,
time, and matter are creatures every bit as much as fish, birds and animals,
yes, including human beings. Everything in existence, apart from God, is a
creature. The sovereign God spoke everything into existence. He created space
into which He placed the matter He created. When? At the very beginning of
time. “In
the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1).
We see from these awesome
opening words of the Bible that it is not about you or me. It is all about
Jesus. Another way of saying this is that God created creation so that He could
live in it. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Therefore,
the majestic and magnificent opening verse of the Bible is all about God
initiating His eternal plan to establish just that for the future. “God’s
dwelling-place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They
will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God” (Rev.
21:3, cf. Lev. 21:11-12).
If we want to know what God looks and acts like, we look at Jesus as the Scriptures reveal Him, and not how we wish Him to be. And if we want to know of God’s power and abilities, we study His creation. “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20). Therefore, through our five senses as human beings, God reveals Himself to us through His creation and His written Word, the 66 books of the Bible. We begin in Genesis chapter 1.
We’re
All Theologians
Theology
has become a scary word to some Christians. However, theology is the study of
God. The word theology comprises of two Koine Greek words, (θεολογία),
formed from theos (“god”) and logia, (which has to
do with λόγος (logos) meaning “word.”) Thus, for the
Christian, theology means God-Word.
Our
understanding of God comes from our study of God’s Word written, wherein is
revealed God’s Word incarnate. As Reformed, we believe that Scripture interprets
Scripture. Another way of saying this is that the Word interprets the Word.
Thus, we use Jesus, the “express image” or “exact representation” of God to
study God and His creation. Christ is the glass we look through to magnify God.
We cannot and will not see God (or His Kingdom) without Christ (John 3:3).
Notice how the Belgic
Confession in Article 12 speaks of the beginning of creation. Under
the heading, The Creation of All Things, it says, “We believe that the Father, when it
seemed good to Him, created heaven and earth and all other creatures from
nothing, by the Word—that is to say, by the Son…”
If
we may be permitted to paraphrase the opening verse of the Bible, we might say
that the Father spoke His Word and Their Spirit brought forth creation. “For
there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the
Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (1 John 5:7, NKJV). Herman Bavinck
reminds us that, “The Father is pre-eminent in the works of creation
and redemption; He represents the Trinity; hence, He is often called God, even
by Christ. Nevertheless, the Son and the Holy Spirit are also God.[2]
Notice
that the three Persons in the Godhead are mentioned in the following, “And the
Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let
there be light’; and there was light” (Gen. 1:2b-3). Thus, the Father
(God) speaks His Word and Their Spirit brings into being whatever is commanded.
“By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Psa. 33:6). “By
faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God”
(Heb. 11:3a, ESV). “[The Word] is before all things, and in Him all things hold
together” (Col. 1:17). Therefore, Christ is the glue that holds all creation
together.
It’s
All about God’s Glory
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God
reveals His character in His creation and in His Word. No doubt there is a
relationship between those ten words spoken by God and the ten words, as in the
Ten Commandments. It is no accident, therefore, that before He speaks His ten
words of creation, God reveals that He is the One who created us. Likewise,
before He gives His ten commandments to His people, (which were written in our
hearts upon our creation, Rom. 2:14-15), He reveals that He is the One who has
redeemed them. In both instances, (Creation and Redemption), human beings are
to worship and serve Him as Creator and now, after the Fall, also as Redeemer. When
it comes to the Word becoming flesh to redeem creation, Herman Bavinck says, “The
incarnation has its presupposition and foundation in the Trinitarian being of
God.”[3] The great Bible
Commentator, Matthew Henry, on Genesis 1 writes,
The author and cause of this great work—GOD. The Hebrew word is Elohim, which bespeaks, 1. The power of God the Creator. El signifies the strong God; and what less than almighty strength could bring all things out of nothing? 2. The plurality of persons in the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This plural name of God, in Hebrew, which speaks of Him as many though He is one, was to the Gentiles perhaps a savour of death unto death, hardening them in their idolatry; but it is to us a savour of life unto life, confirming our faith in the doctrine of the Trinity, which, though but darkly intimated in the Old Testament, is clearly revealed in the New. The Son of God, the eternal Word and Wisdom of the Father, was with Him when He made the world (Prov. 8:30), nay, we are often told that the world was made by Him, and nothing made without Him, John 1:3, 10; Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2. O what high thoughts should this form in our minds of that great God whom we draw nigh to in religious worship, and that great Mediator in whose name we draw nigh!
We
see in the New Testament, for example, that Jesus, the Word, “spoke the word
[logos] to them” (Mark 2:2; cf. 4:33). An Old Testament example would be, “After
these things the word (debar) of the Lord came to Abram in a
vision: ‘Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very
great’” (Gen. 15:1; cf. 15:4). Thus, the Word comes with the word.
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If
we keep our eyes on Jesus, not only we will begin to understand this fallen
creation better but also the redeemed creation, especially when it is fully
renewed. “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for
the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light” (Rev. 21:23).
God
speaks to us through Creation. “The heavens tell about the glory of God. The
skies show that His hands created them. Day after day they speak about it. Night
after night they make it known. But they don’t speak or use words. No sound is
heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into the whole earth. Their words go
out from one end of the world to the other” (Psa. 19:1-4, NIV). After speaking
of God’s creation, the psalmist goes on to talk about God’s Word. We must not
miss the connection between God’s creation and God’s Word.
We
have already talked about Jesus as the Logos, meaning Word. Related to
the word logos is logistics which may be defined as the detailed
organization and implementation of a complex operation. When moving men and materiel,
the military involves itself in logistics. From calculating the amount of food
rations to feed the troops, how much fuel, how many trucks are needed to
transport them, weapons and ammo, route to travel, viewing weather reports,
bridge capabilities, etc., how much more so would God need to prepare creation
for “The Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world (Rev. 13:8b) to
enter it to redeem it?
Creation
is all about Jesus, the Logos who became flesh. Before He rested on the
seventh day (4th Commandment), Scripture makes a declaration: “God
saw all that He had made, and it was very good” (Gen. 1:31a). Being creatures
in God’s creation we must not think that we have any goodness apart from God. Jesus
says, “No one is good – except God alone” (Mark 10:18b). But what about
Jesus, the Logos? Well, Jesus
was part of God’s detailed organization and implementation of a complex
operation. Jesus is God’s logistics!
In
Genesis 1 we see God organising and implementing His complex operation so that
the Word could become flesh and dwell among us. Everything was considered right
down to the wood needed for the cross, the metal for the nails to pin Him to it
and the men to crucify Him. When viewed in light of God creating the heavens
and the earth and all therein out of nothing, the miraculous raising of Jesus
from the dead pales to insignificance.
God introduces humanity on the sixth day of creation, thereby creating the manpower with the skills needed to put His incarnate Son to death so that He could pay the price required to purchase creation. With Isaac Watts we sing,
Were
the whole realm of Nature mine,
That
were an offering far too small;
Love
so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.
The whole realm of nature now belongs to Christ. As to His humanity, Jesus is descended from Adam (Luke 3:23-38). When the Word became flesh, though fully God, He became also fully human. This was a continuation of God’s “Cultural Mandate.”
Glorifying God by Obeying the Cultural Mandate
The Cultural Mandate is also
referred to as the Dominion Mandate. God mandated it in Genesis 1 and
again after the Flood in Genesis 9. The idea is that of mankind cultivating God’s
creation to the glory of God. It is about ruling over creation as God’s vice
regents. It involves relationships as individuals, families, nations. It goes
from cultivating soil, plants, livestock etc. to space exploration.
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Each Person in the Triune God has a relationship with the other Persons. The Father loves the Son and Spirit. The Son loves the Father and Spirit. And the Spirit loves the Father and the Son. Thus, in the Godhead each Person loves God and His neighbour as Himself. Part of being created in God’s image is that mankind is to image God by ruling His creation righteously and expressing His love in our relationships. We are to “image” God on earth by doing everything to His glory.
God created the heavens and the earth and all therein for His own glory. Yes, even rockets to the moon, Mars, and beyond are to be to His glory. The science that enables us to do these things is to be to His glory, be it physics, chemistry, mathematics, linguistics, architecture, biology, zoology, theology, philosophy, whatever, all of this is included in God’s “Cultural Mandate” which means that all of mankind is to be about the business of cultivating all things to God’s glory.[4]
Jesus
is All of Creation’s Commander
We
already mentioned God resting on the seventh day, on which the 4th
Commandment of God’s Law is based (Exod. 20:11). As do all Ten Commandments, the
4th Commandments points us to Jesus.
After
telling us about creation in Psalm 19, “The heavens declare the glory of
God” etc, the psalmist goes on to tell us about God’s Law. “The law of
the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony
of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the
statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the
commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the
fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the
judgments of the LORD are true and righteous
altogether” (Psa. 19:7-9).
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“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-3, 14).
Summary
God created creation so that Jesus
could live in it with His people.
[1] Westminster
Confession of Faith, chapter 1, paragraph 9.
[2] Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine
of God, Translated by William Hendriksen, (Banner of Truth, Reprinted 1991),
266.
[3] Herman Bavinck, Reformed
Dogmatics: Sin and Salvation in Christ, Vol. 3, (Baker Academic, 2006),
274.
[4] Neil Cullan McKinlay and D. Rudi
Schwartz, The Unfaithful Bride and the Faithful Groom (Weemac
Publishing, Queensland, 2023), 421.
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