Genesis 1 and Salvation - 2.
In the last blog we saw that God sort of hid his plan of salvation in Genesis 1 and reveals it through His actions in the creation as we know it. I want to take it one step further and explain something again. Genesis one is about creation and recreation. It contains the acts of God and how He redeems something that are seemingly in total chaos.
Apart from seeing how God reveals his plan of salvation we also see another thing in this chapter. In verse two we see that the Spirit of God is present and hovering over the seemingly chaos. He is present but nothing is happening. To understand what is happening you must understand how the Godhead functions. The easiest way to understand is to understand the functions of the God head.
Gen 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 water.
1. The Father wants it. His desire is pivotal and must be fulfilled or done. Jesus even teaches us to pray in that manner. Your Kingdom come Your will be done on earth as in heaven. Jesus never did anything contrary to the will of the Father. Adam and Eve’s sin was that they followed the will of the enemy. Jesus would not say or do anything unless he was sure it was what God wanted.
2. The Son speaks it. He is the Word of God. He is the voice of the Trinity. He is the Word made flesh and he came to tell us about the Father. Faith comes by hearing and hearing comes by the Word of God. God is pleased by faith according to Hebrews chapter 6. When the Son speaks he reveals the will of the Father, you hear the will(Word) of the Father and that creates faith in your heart that pleases the Father.
3. The Spirit does the word spoken by the Son, and that pleases the Father. He is the acting agent of the Trinity. The Spirit always responds to the Word spoken and fulfills the will of the Father spoken by the Son. Zechariah 4:6 says This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel saying: Not by might nor by power but by my Spirit says the Lord. The Spirit does what God wants.
So we see in verse two that the Spirit is present but He is waiting to act. Then when God spoke in verse three of Genesis one, He, the Spirit acts and start recreating the purposes of God. So we see that when the Spirit are present God will use Him to create His purposes. I hope you begin to see what is happening here.
1. Chaos does not remove his Spirit from our lives. He came to convict the world of sin. God knew that things will be dark, without form and void and in chaos. The good news are that His Spirit is present to cause a new creation to happen.
2. He is waiting for the Word. That is why nobody gets saved without hearing about Jesus. He is not a philosophy but he is a person they need to meet. He gives us faith to believe for salvation.
3. The Spirit hovering literally means to vibrate and brood like and eagle will brood on its nest. We will look at this word later and I will show you the only other place this word is used in the scripture. For now we see the Spirit and water.
We see another story in the Bible of Jesus and Nicodemus in John Chapter three. Nicodemus is asking Jesus how to inherit the kingdom of God. Jesus is very plain in his requirement when he responds to Nicodemus.
John 3:1-7 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water andofthe Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
You must be born again by the Spirit and water. First Nicodemus thinks naturally but Jesus corrects his thinking. This is not a natural birth but a spiritual birth. Important is to see that Jesus mentions both the water and the Spirit. For these Jews that must have been familiar. Where and when was the last time we read about the Spirit and water? I remember, at creation. They understood that Jesus was saying that the spiritual birth is just like the time God created the earth, the Spirit is present to create the purposes of God in man. The difference was that this time it is not a natural creation but a spiritual creation. This time God will star with man that are void and without form and create man in his form and image and fill him with His Spirit. Your born again experience was a creational act of God and he made you a new creation.
2 Cor 5:17;21 I am a new creation, old things have passed away behold all things have become new. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for me so that I might become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus my Lord.
In your lost state the Holy Spirit was hovering over you and convicting you of sin. Then when you heard the Word you received faith to believe. As soon as the Word was present in your mouth, if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead we shall be saved, the Spirit acted and birthed you into the kingdom of God. God desired it, the Word spoke it and the Spirit did it.
So we see the Spirit of God brooding over chaos. To better understand this word we must add Deut 32:11 to it.
As an Eagle stirs over her nest, flutters(hovers) over her young, spreads abroad her wings, takes them and bears them on her wings, so alone the Lord led you and there was no strange god with you.
This is the only other time this word is used. God tells Israel through Moses that when He brought them out of Egypt, out of slavery and bondage and chaos, He was like an eagle hovering over them. The same image that is used in Genesis one when God creates. So what it means is that when God brought Israel out of Egypt it was an act of creation. Making slaves sons again. Taking chaos and bringing in a new order. Look at what God Says in Ex 19 right after they left Egypt and what He is making them.
Ex 19:3-6 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and howI bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earthismine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.
The same picture of an eagle, the Spirit hovering to create them into a kingdom of kings and priests. The born again experience is an act of creation where God constitutes us into sons and daughters but even more than that. Unless you are born of the water and the Spirit you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Why does He create us into new beings and for what purpose?
1 Pet 2:9-10 But yearea chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: Which in time pastwerenot a people, butarenow the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
Isn’t that what happened at creation? Darkness covered the face of the deep but God spoke light and created something good. In times past you were not His people but now through the recreation and the born again experience by the Spirit you are a king and a priest. The same thing God made them after their act of creation, the same thing God makes you after your act of creation.
Are you born again by the Spirit. There is no other way to enter the kingdom.
Rom 8:9 You are not in the flesh but in the spirit if so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is not his.
You have the Spirit of God that continually dwells in you. HE is ready to bring order out of chaos in any area of your life. He is present but not acting until the Word speaks. Find out what the Word says and you will be amazed at what the Spirit can do with you.