Chapter One: Christ
in Creation: read Genesis chapters 1&2
by Wade Wright
by Wade Wright
The logical place to begin would be the
beginning it seems, and if we look there we can indeed see Christ. John 1:1
tells us that He was in the beginning, that He was both God, and “with God”,
and verse three tells us that He created all things. In the general account of
creation contained in Gen.1:1 the word God is used. However in the detailed
account of mans creation in chapter two, it is the LORD God who makes man “in
our image”. If you translate the word Jesus from English back to Greek, and
then back to the Hebrew name it began as, you find it to be a contraction of
two words, one being Jehovah, the other yasha, meaning savior. When translated
directly from Hebrew to English it comes out Joshua, and the meaning of it is
Jehovah savior. The name Jehovah is usually designated in our English bible as
LORD, all in capitals. Jesus is Jehovah God, contained in a human form, so that
He could provide himself to die a sacrificial death and become our savior. We
see him there, in the beginning, active in the work of creation, and on the
seventh day of creation, He rested, having completed that which He set out to
do. It was Jehovah God who breathed life into man, making him a living soul.
This set man apart from all other creatures, who have a soul after a sort, in
that they can think and interact with their surrounding, but man alone has an
awareness of God, for his soul is designed to be alive unto his creator.
Perhaps it seems unimportant to rehearse
some of the creation story, but it is vital to understand that the circumstances
in which mankind exists are rightfully imposed upon us by our God, for He is
the rightful owner of all creation, just as you would be the rightful owner of
a home you built for yourself, and entitled to all the privileges and uses
thereof. If in a man’s life he discovers that God does indeed have rightful
authority over him, it will forever change the course of that life. Once you
truly settle in your own mind that you should serve God, it changes how you
perceive yourself. No longer are you master of your own destiny, in your mind,
but instead, you become a creature, subject to the will of the One who created
you. It is no great leap of the mind to bend your will to the will of God, but
to someone who cannot see God as being God, and man as Gods creature, it is
completely foreign to his way of thinking.
In the gospel accounts of the life of
Jesus, we find him walking on water, calming the angry seas and the raging
winds of a violent storm. There are countless incidents his curing diseases,
causing lame persons to walk, and the blind to see. He cast out demons, and
even raised dead people back to life. We read these things, and see the mercy,
and kindness of a loving God, but they also tell us of the power and authority
of Jesus Christ. Power over the forces of nature, over the diseases which
ravage the bodies of men, just as sin ravages the souls of mankind. It
chronicles his authority, over unclean spirits, and even over death.
Rightful authority is a foreign thought
to the natural mind of a man. Instead, we think in terms of power and control. There
is an account in Matthew 8:9 of a roman centurion who understood authority.
When he said to Jesus “I am a man under authority”, rather than a man of
authority, he gave us the key to our relationship to the sovereignty of God,
and the stewardship of man. God created man and gave him dominion over the
earth, because it pleased him to do so, and it was his to give. That dominion
is valid because it is endorsed by God who has complete dominion over all,
making man a steward, rather than an owner. The centurion was a steward of the
authority of Rome,
and he knew it, unlike most men who imagine themselves to be persons of
authority.
To some extent, even the best intentioned
of Christians, myself included think in terms of power and control, rather than
stewardship. For instance, my wife and I own 12 acres. It has been here since
the beginning of creation, and will be here until the Lord rolls the heavens
and the earth together at the time of judgment, but I own it. In a few short
years, I will have departed from this life and be forgotten in this world, but
in my mind, I own that twelve acres. God, who created all, and owns all, and
who gave man dominion over the earth, owns my twelve acres, and has given me
stewardship of it. Knowing this doesn’t take from my rights to use my home, but
reminds me to acknowledge God in the way I treat my home, and everything else I
have possession of. We think of money when we think of stewardship, but it
should extend to how we use time, talents, relationships, and all the wondrous
gifts of God. One thing in particular that man has taken liberty with is the
truth. We even go so far as to deny that there is an absolute truth, but that
things are ‘’relative”, or “it depends on your perspective”. To those who do
not wish to be under the authority of God, it is necessary to deny the story of
creation, for to accept it as written requires obedience to our creator. In
order to justify rejecting God’s authority, we invent an alternative story,
like evolution, which relieves us of any obligation to a higher power, by
denying his existence. The only problem with this is that what we believe
doesn’t change the truth, nor does it change our responsibility to God for how
we regard his word.
Authority and order were well
established in Gods creation, until Satan began to envy Gods power and
authority, and imagined that he could set his throne above Gods, and be
worshipped as God. When Adam and Eve joined Satan in disobedience by eating the
fruit which God had forbidden them, in their minds they did the same thing
Satan had done. Not only did man become a fallen, ruined creature, just as
Satan is. But it affected all things which were under the dominion of man.
God’s beautiful earth, which He had declared to be “good, and very good” was
now under the dominion of a fallen creature. It would seem the better solution
in man’s thinking to erase and start over. But God’s ways are not our ways. The
character of God is such that He will never go back on his word. Having
delegated to man authority over creation, He still allows us much control over
our earthly home. When He entered the human race as our savior Jesus Christ, He
became the perfect man, who will be king over all the earth and restore pure
and rightful authority over his creation.
We
never stop to think through our actions and the motives behind them, or the
consequences of them, but every sin we think, or do in effect removes God from his
rightful place on the throne in our hearts, and places our own will in his
stead. Our gracious loving God allows us a great deal of latitude in how we
live our lives, but be assured that a day of accounting will come. Dear friend,
you cannot afford to go through this life and never bow to the will of your
creator. He will allow you to do so if you wish, but the consequences of
spending eternity outside of his loving favor are more than you can afford to
pay.
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