I began my new year with a new Bible reading schedule. And like many of us do, I started off in
Genesis. As I was reading the first
chapter, the Spirit brought my attention to the chronological order of creation
and the similarity between that and the salvation experience. Now, I’m not saying that this is an “exact
science,” and that this is the way salvation occurs always and in every
individual, but I found it to be quite interesting, and essentially in line
with my personal salvation experience. I’d
like to try to show you what I saw in these verses.
First of all, the idea is built around the premise outlined
in 2nd Corinthians 4:6. This is my
favorite verse in the Bible, and shows that the same creative force behind
creation, is at work in salvation. Take
a look:
“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
If we quickly dissect this verse, we see that the very same
God who said “Let there be light,” in Genesis 1:3, uses that same creative
power to speak a new “light” into the hearts of believers. He once commanded the light of creation to
spring forth out of nothing, and now He does the same thing to dead hearts of
nothingness. He proclaimed light to
spring forth out of dark, and now in our hearts He once again commands light to
shine forth. But unlike the light of the
universe, which is a force now generated by our sun and stars, this is a light
generated by knowledge. And it is a
particular kind of knowledge. It is knowledge
of the glory of God! And it is found in
the face of Jesus Christ!
So this verse here has always led me to see the power behind
creation as the same power behind salvation.
And when we look at the creation process in Genesis 1, we find some
pretty unique similarities and foreshadows.
Step 1: Genesis 1:2 “And
the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the
deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
Ephesians 2:1b “…who were dead in trespasses and sins;”
In Genesis 1:2 there was nothing. Earth was without form and void. It was empty and lifeless. And so it is with the lost sinners
heart. It too is empty and lifeless. Dead.
In this case nothing and dead are synonymous. Both meaning without life and empty. The lost sinner is spiritually dead. Born that way because of the curse of
Adam. He is spiritually “without form
and void.”
Step 2: Genesis 1:3 “And
God said, Let there be light: and there was light.”
John 1:9 [speaking of Jesus] “That was the true Light, which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
Into that nothingness, God spoke light. He caused something to occur out of
nothing. And in salvation, the same
thing occurs. God speaks life into the
heart of an individual. He brings the
light of Christ through the Word (Romans 10:17)! In the same way that He used His Word to
create light in the universe, He now uses His Word to create light in the
hearts of dead individuals. Jesus Christ
IS that light. All throughout the
Gospels, He is referred to as “light.”
Whereas God once said let there be into the nothingness of space, He now
says let there be into the nothingness of dead hearts and the same power goes
forth! Power to create light out of
darkness and power to create life out of death!
Step 3: Genesis 1:4 “ And
God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the
darkness.”
1st Thessalonians 5:5 “Ye are all the children of
light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.”
Matthew 25:32 “And before him shall be gathered all nations:
and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep
from the goats:”
And just like in creation, when God made a distinction
between light and dark, He does so in salvation, making a distinction between
His sheep (children of Light) and the goats (children of darkness).
Step 4: Genesis 1:9 “ And
God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place,
and let the dry land appear: and it was so.”
1st Corinthians 3:11 “For other foundation can no
man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
God then gathered the land together in order to form a
foundation for life. He created land
upon which to build. And in salvation,
once the Light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is shed abroad in our hearts, He
Himself becomes our foundation to build upon.
Just like in creation a foundation for life was produced, so it is in
the heart of the believer that a Foundation for life (and that eternal) is
laid! Everything that sprang forth for
creation came forth from those foundations of land and sea. And everything that springs forth from the
heart of the believer, springs forth from the foundation of Jesus Christ!
Step 5: Genesis
1:11-12 “And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon
the earth: and it was so.12 And the earth brought forth
grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit,
whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.”
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23 Meekness,
temperance: against such there is no law.”
Ephesians 5:9 “ (For the fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)”
From that foundation laid in Genesis, God brought forth the “fruits”
of the earth. All the seed yielding ‘kinds’
were created. And so it is in the
believer! Once the Light has come and
the foundation has been laid, the Spirit of God begins to create spiritual ‘fruit’
within the believers heart! All the ‘kinds’
of spiritual life (love, joy, peace, righteousness, etc.) begin to be produced
in the believers life and spring forth in evidence, showing themselves to the
world! The same way that creation now
showed evidence of life, the believer also begins to show evidence of the life
of Christ!
Step 6: Genesis
1:14-15 “And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and
for days, and years:15 And let them be for lights in the
firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.”
Matthew 5:14-16 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that
is set on an hill cannot be hid.15 Neither do men light
a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light
unto all that are in the house.16 Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.”
God then produced lights in the heavens in order to divide
night from day and to be for signs and seasons and to give light upon the
earth. In the exact same way, believers
now become lights for the earth! We now
shine for Jesus Christ, giving evidence of the distinction between night (lost)
and day (saved). We also use our light
to warn of the “signs” and “seasons,” challenging the world to be on alert for
the day of Christs return draws near!
And the same way that the lights of creation were used to give light
unto the earth, our spiritual light of Jesus Christ is used to shine on the
earth!
Step 7: Genesis 1:16 “ And
God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser
light to rule the night: he made the stars also.”
Romans 1:20 “For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:”
Psalm 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light
unto my path.”
Now this one is a stretch but I think it is somewhat true nonetheless. God created two great lights in
creation. The sun and the moon (and to a
lesser extant the stars as well). In
salvation there are also two great lights.
There is the ‘light’ of creation (the lesser light) and the ‘light’ of
Scripture (the greater light). Both are
used to ‘see’ the evidence of God and are therefore used to hold men
responsible. From creation, man can
clearly see that there is a Creator God.
And in the Scriptures, we get a bright and shinning testimony of who He
is! (In this analogy, the stars would be lesser works of revelation. Perhaps our testimonies, apologetics, and
studies?)
Step 8: Genesis
1:20-22 “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving
creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open
firmament of heaven.21 And God created great whales, and
every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly,
after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was
good.22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and
multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.”
Matthew 28:19-20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Ghost:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the
world. Amen.”
From this new creation, God then began to produce living
creatures of all sorts! And so it is for
the believer! Once we have been
enlightened by the Light of Jesus Christ, and the foundation of our Savior has
been laid, and we begin to show evidence of spiritual fruit in our lives, we
then begin to shine forth that Light to others.
Sharing the Light of Jesus Christ with the world! And from that springs new life! As God grants it to us, we begin to see our
Light “multiply” as others are affected by us!
As we preach in the Name of Jesus Christ, new life is generated through
the Word of God, the same as in creation!
Step 9: Genesis
1:26-27 “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth.27 So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”
Psalm 37:37a “Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright:…”
1st Corinthians 11:1 “ Be ye
followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.”
2nd Timothy 2:2 “And the things that thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who
shall be able to teach others also.”
God’s final step in creation was to create man in His
image. And again we find a similarity in
salvation. Through discipleship, we ‘create’
in ‘our image.’ But not in the same
sense. In actuality, we are creating in
a spiritual image, which is really the image of Christ. No believer ought to be creating in ‘his own’
image, for we all know that we are nothing apart from Christ and our entire
effort of discipleship ought to be pointing people to Christ! But, since we are created new in His image,
and our spirit man is a reflection of the righteousness of Christ, our efforts
of discipleship ARE to get men to follow us as we follow Christ! The Psalm tell us to observe (mark) the
spiritually mature (perfect) man. And
Paul told us to follow Him, because He was following Christ! And Timothy was instructed to pass along the
information he had learned. So in our
salvation experience, we find ourselves creating men in our image (so much so
as our image is understood to be the image of Christ).
In the space/time/mass continuum, we find God progressing
His creation from (1) nothingness, to (2) light, to (3) distinction between
light and dark, to (4) generating foundations, to (5) springing forth fruit and
vegetation, to (6) creating lights for signs and seasons, to (7) creating two
large sources of light, to (8) bringing forth an abundance of life, to (9)
making man in His own image. And in
salvation, we see the same progressive power at work! Bringing eternal salvation from (1) dead hearts
of nothingness, to (2) the Light of Jesus Christ, to (3) a distinction between
children of light and children of darkness, to (4) laying a foundation of Jesus
Christ, to (5) producing the fruit of the Spirit in us, to (6) using us to
bring the Light of Jesus Christ to the world, to (7) the giving of two large
sources of spiritual light (Creation and Scripture…And although this one seems
out of order, so it does in the original creation account in Genesis! Light was produced way back on step 1 on day
1, but the sun and moon didn’t come until step 7 on day 4!), to (8) using us to
spread His Light and create new life, to (9) discipling others and ‘creating
man in our image (the image of Christ).’
Pretty cool!
