Study 3. The Seven Days of Creation.
Day 1
“Thus the Heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array” (Genesis 2:2).
When God began to create all things there was nothing already existing. When He began His creative acts there was no physical substance or material existing. He brought forth something out of nothing. Creation itself was brought forth at God’s command. By the power of His Living and active Word alone creation came into existence. In the Bible we are told that, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which were visible.” (Hebrews 11:3)
A picture on the inside
When God started to create He already had a picture on the inside of Himself. He had a design already existing in His mind. He had a blueprint as it were of what He wanted to create and by the power of His Word alone that picture became a physical reality. Once He had brought forth the creation He actually “framed the picture.” What was in the invisible realm and in the mind of God was supernaturally released by the command of His Word into something physical and tangible. That Word of God through which creation came about was not only the command of God but actually brought into existence by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Word Himself the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words at God’s command the Lord Jesus went to work creating all things through and by the power of the Holy Spirit.
He was face to face with God
In the beginning we are told that Jesus was face to face with God as His eternal Son and that He was the Eternal Word through whom God made the universe itself. Jesus was the living Word of God, who became flesh and dwelt among us. As it is written of Him, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. (Face to face with God) He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” (John 1:1-3)
DAY 1:
“And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He seperated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day” and the darkness he called “night.” And there as evening, and there was morning-the first day” (Genesis 1:3-5).
Seperating the light from the darkness in us
God’s first creative act was to separate the light from the darkness. This creative act clearly portrays the reality of the new creation or the new birth given by the Word Himself the Lord Jesus Christ. Through and by the Holy Spirit Himself the light of God’s nature and life is restored to the fallen human spirit that is by nature in spiritual darkness. When a person is born again God separates them from the prison of spiritual darkness and brings them into the light of His presence. As it is written, “For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) Imagine the film in a camera that has never been exposed to light. There is no image registered on the film and it is black. However, when the camera shutter opens to let in the light an image is imbedded on the film and captured. Through the new birth God’s image and likeness, His character and nature are restored to the fallen human spirit.
New wine for new wineskins
In the new creation God does not patch up the old nature but imparts the brand new nature and character of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. New wine is for new wineskins! His likeness and image is infused into the dead human spirit filling it with the light, life and with the power of God. When the Holy Spirit in the human heart and life activates God’s word that dead spirit within is instantly revived and recreated into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus. The new creation is the only answer to the un-regenerated heart of fallen man that is, “evil above all things and desperately wicked.” (Jeremiah 17:9)
Into the light of the resurrection
Remember that it was at Jesus command that Lazarus came forth from the darkness of his tomb into the light of his resurrection from the dead. The first person he saw when he came out of the tomb was the Lord Jesus Christ. Also at the resurrection on the last day the first thing the dead in Christ will see when the eyes of their bodies are opened will be the Lord Jesus Christ Himself coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
Loving what God loves and hating what God hates!
God always separates “the things of light” from “the things of darkness.” This is the experience of every person who has been truly born again by the Holy Spirit of God. One of the first things that the new creation will produce in us is a love for the things that God loves and a hate for the things that God hates. The new birth will reproduce in us a Christ loving, Christ accepting way of life to replace the old Christ hating Christ rejecting way of life. We will love Him, Love His Word and love others with the love of God that has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) By faith we let out the love we have within us. As it is written, “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6b) If we have been born again we will have within us the supernatural capacity to love others with the same love that God Himself has.
We love the brethren
As it is also written, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love (are loving) the brethren. Anyone who does not love (continue to love) remains in death. Anyone who does not love (continue to love) remains in death. Anyone who hates (is hating) his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life (dwelling) in him. This is how we know (by inward revelation) what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down (be laying down) our lives for our brothers.” (1 John 3:14-16) This love is not some sloppy sentimental feeling or emotion but a real desire to see our fellow believers excel in life and in the things of God and to be willing to even lay down our lives if necessary for them. It is easy to love those whom we get along with but not so easy loving those whom naturally we would avoid. The Christian life is not lived in the power of natural ability at all but in the power of the Holy Spirit!
Light replaces the darkness
So then when we are born again “darkness” is replaced with “light.” As it is also written, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth…Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them…For everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is the light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: “Wake up O sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you (give you light).” (Ephesians 5:8, 11, 13)
Separated from the power of sin
In the new creation God separates “the light” from “the darkness” in us. He separates us from the power of sin and fills us with the power of righteousness. He makes a clear distinction between sin and righteousness. Unrighteousness expresses itself in sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like and those who live this way will not inherit the kingdom of God. However, those who have passed from the darkness of sin into the light of righteousness will be filled with God’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, meekness and self-control and against these things there is no law at all! Indeed if we really belong to Christ then these things will have been crucified in our lives and our lives no longer under their power. Indeed if we have been made alive by the Spirit then we must continue to keep in step with the Spirit! (Galatians 5:19-25) In the new creation God separates the sinner from the power of sin in their life and God sees things very clearly where sin and righteousness is concerned! There is no middle ground in this. There are no grey areas at all. We read in Genesis that, “He called the light “Day” and the darkness He called “Night.”
The futility of the fallen nature
Fallen man cannot distinguish between “light” and “darkness” as God can. Often what we think is right and good in our own eyes falls far short of what God Himself considers being right and good. As it is written, “There is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it leads to death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
Belonging to the light and not to the darkness
God always calls sin and righteousness for what they are and separates them from each other. Those who have been spiritually reborn from above and made new creations in Christ God calls “sons of light” and “sons of the day” and that those so called no longer belong to “the night” or the “darkness.” For it is written, “You are sons of the light and of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5). Again it is written, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man (who has the Spirit of God within him) makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment…but we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:14,16b)
Seeing things from God’s perspective
When you are a new creation in Christ you see things from God’s perspective. What He calls sin you call sin and what He calls righteousness you call righteousness. Those who have been born from above and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit can separate the spiritual things from the carnal and fleshly things. They have true discernment to see what is of the darkness and what is of the light because they have the mind of Christ that includes His thought, His feelings and His purposes. They have the God-given capacity to think, to feel, to speak and to act as the Lord Jesus Himself would because they are new creations in Him and the old life of habitual sin and rebellion has gone. As it is written, “If anyone is in Christ he is a brand new creation, the old (manner of living) has gone and the new (manner of living) has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17) It can also read in the original Greek language in this way, “the old manner of living is passing away and the new manner of living has already begun.”
Living for righteousness
When you are truly born again you will start to live for righteousness (to do those things that please God and are in line with His will) instead of living in and for sin! Indeed it is also written, “No one who lives in Him keeps on wilfully and habitually sinning. No one who continues to sin in this way has either seen Him or known Him…He who does what is right is righteous just as He is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin because God’s seed (The Spirit of Jesus, namely the Holy Spirit) remains in him and he cannot go on sinning because he has been born of God.” (1 John 3:6-9)
Confession and cleansing
In the Christian life there will be times when we commit individual acts of sin, either through temptations or through ignorance and at such times the blessed Holy Spirit will tell us when we did it and at what time we did it. Then He will lead us to confess it before the Lord so that we can be cleansed from it. Blessed are all those who have the Holy Spirit to lead them to the cleansing blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! As it is written, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) and again it is written, “If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1b-2) However, God’s normal way of life for the believer is not to be sinning and confessing. There will be times when we will sin and that grievously but we will not be wilfully and habitually living in sin.
No neutral ground
We will either be walking in the light or walking in the darkness. There is no neutral territory between the two. As it is also written, “this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk (continue to walk) in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk (continuously) in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:5-7) As we walk so we are cleansed. This is the normal life for the Christian. This is the new creation in Christ!
The distinguishing mark of every child of God
Righteousness is the mark of every true child of God without exception. Their life will radiate the character, the life and the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. The “unfruitful works of darkness” will not contaminate or dominate their lives. Indeed they will be “Light in the Lord” reflecting the fruit of that light that in itself consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth and that is eager to find out what pleases the Lord. They will have nothing to do with the unfruitful deeds of darkness but rather expose them for what they are. Their testimony and their lives will shine as lights that expose the dark deeds of unrighteousness and sin. As the Lord Jesus Himself said, “This is the verdict: Light (Jesus Himself) has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth (God’s Word) will come into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.” (John 3:19-21)
Unhook from what is evil and hook up to what is good
If we really love the Lord Jesus then we will love His Word the Bible, indeed we will “hate what is evil and cling to that which is good.” (Romans 12:9) and again it is written, “The Lord knows who are His, and everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.” (2 Timothy 2:19)
Rescued from the kingdom of darkness
Before a person is born again their inner spirit is “formless” and “empty,” without “form” and void of the light, the life and the power of God. However, when the blessed Holy Spirit hovers over the “waters” of their spirit and infuses divine life into that spirit the new creation takes place producing in them the fruit of the Spirit. Only when the new creation takes place at God’s command will the light be separated from the darkness in that person’s life. Only then will that person be rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of God’s dear Son whom He loves and experience through Him the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace (Colossians 1:13-14) (Ephesians 1:7).
