Day: August 22, 2021

THE HIGHER LIGHTS BRINGING IN THE HIGHER LIFE

The light that was restored on the first day was good only for the lowest life, that is, the plant life. It was not good for the higher life forms. Life depends upon light, and the higher the light, the higher the life. The first-day light was a general kind of light; hence, the light-bearers needed to be recovered on the fourth day (vv. 14-19). These are the solid lights, not light in general. These bodies bear the light and give location to the light. The light-bearers, or luminaries, are the sun, the moon, and the stars. These three made the light definite and solid. The general light of the first day was good for producing the lowest life, the plant life without consciousness. But God wanted something more. He wanted not only the plant life but also the animal life. For the animal life, which is a higher life, there was the need of higher light, of solid light. So on the fourth day the sun, the moon, and the stars were recovered. Although the sun, the moon, and the stars had been created before Adam, they were judged by God. In judging them, God stopped their function. This is why the universe became darkness.

On the fourth day the solid lights were recovered to give more light for the producing of higher life. First, there are the fish, which is the lowest life among the animals. Then there are the birds in the air, whose life is a little higher (vv. 20-23). Then comes the cattle life (vv. 24-25). The animal life became higher and higher on the earth.

The fish, the birds, and the cattle all reproduce their young differently, and this indicates the levels of life. In English we say that fish lay eggs, but what they lay is not like the eggs that birds lay. What fish lay are something almost like seeds. Birds, however, are higher. Birds lay eggs that have a hard shell. Furthermore, fish lay countless seedlike eggs, but birds lay a small number of eggs. This also shows that the bird life is higher. Cattle, such as oxen, cows, sheep, and goats, do not lay seedlike eggs or eggs with a shell but have wombs from which their descendants are brought forth. They deliver their young alive at birth. They have a higher life. It is clear then that there are various levels of life. There are the vegetable life, the fish life, the bird life, and the cattle life.

The plant life came out of the shining of the general light of the first day, but the animal life came out of the shining of the higher lights, the solid lights, of the fourth day. The universe was so bright with both the general light and the solid light of the three light-bearers, and the earth was full of vegetation and animals. All of these are quite beautiful. But these are not the highest life with the highest consciousness. Man has the highest created life and is full of consciousness. No animal can do mathematics or develop computers. But man continues to progress in matters like these. Moreover, Genesis 1 tells us that the plants come forth according to their own kind (vv. 11-12), as do the animals (v. 21). But man’s life is not according to man’s kind. Man’s life is according to God’s kind because man was created in God’s image and according to His likeness. Man bears His image. Man resembles God, man expresses God, and man will eventually represent God. Therefore, because man is according to God’s kind, he is very close to God.

These are the steps, the actions, in God’s history. God produced life by brooding as the Spirit upon the waste, emptiness, darkness, and deep water. His goal in brooding upon this devastated situation was to bring forth man. Yet for man to exist, the life in different levels is needed. The cattle, birds, and fish are needed, and the plant life is needed. Furthermore, for all this life to grow on earth, there is the need of the air of the expanse and of the rain from the heavens to water the earth. There is also the need of light, even light-bearers, in the heavens. With these the earth can produce all the things needed by man for his existence, and man was created fully for God. In God’s restoring of the judged universe, His goal was to produce man.

THE SPIRIT OF GOD BROODING 
OVER THE DEEP TO PRODUCE LIFE

Then there is an and in this verse, indicating that something more happened: “And the Spirit of God was brooding upon the surface of the waters.” The Hebrew word for brooding can also mean “hovering,” as when a mother bird broods over her eggs to bring forth life. This indicates that after God’s judgment, God did something to bring forth life. The situation was really waste and emptiness, and there was darkness on the depth of the water. Then the Spirit of God came in to brood, to hover, over the situation in order to produce life.

Following this, from Genesis 1:3 to the end of chapter 2, there is a long record of how life was brought forth through the brooding of the Spirit. These two chapters are full of striking significances. Every detail of these two chapters has some significance. You should not merely read the letters in black and white; rather, you must know the significance of what you read. In Genesis 1:2 we read about the Spirit. What is the significance of the Spirit here? In the Bible the Spirit always signifies life. What is the significance of the waste, emptiness, darkness, and deep water? All these signify a disaster, and even death. These are all negative things. Then all of a sudden something good came, that is, the Spirit. The Spirit came not to rebuke, not to condemn, but to brood, as a mother bird broods over the eggs. The “eggs” are just the waste, emptiness, darkness, and deep water. These are all terrible things, yet these terrible things came under the brooding of the “mother hen”; hence, they all became “eggs.”

We also were under this brooding. We are out of Adam, and Adam was out of the dust, which was there under the brooding. The dust, which is the earth, was the first thing that came out of the brooding of the Spirit. First, there was the Spirit; then, after the Spirit there was light (vv. 3-5); and after the light the expanse was made (vv. 6-8), which is the air. Then the resurrection of the buried earth came up on the third day, the day of resurrection (vv. 9-10). Hence, the first thing that came up because of the Spirit’s brooding is the resurrected earth. Adam was made out of this earth, and we are a part of Adam. Hence, we came out of the brooding of the Spirit. Our existence came out of the Spirit’s brooding in God’s history. God first came out of eternity and entered into time by creating the heavens and the earth. Then God’s creature rebelled, and God judged him. This rebellious one became God’s enemy, and the entire universe became waste, emptiness, and darkness. Then God moved. He moved by the brooding of His Spirit, and we are included there under that brooding.

The brooding brought forth the earth. But for the earth to produce life, there is the need of light and air. Therefore, on the first day the light was recovered, and on the second day the air, the expanse, was created. Then on the third day, the day of resurrection, the buried earth came up (typifying the buried Christ resurrected), ready to produce life. The producing of life started from the lowest life. There is a sequence of life in Genesis, beginning with the lowest life, the life without any consciousness. First, we find the grasses, the herbs, and the trees (vv. 11-13). These are living things, but their life is very low and without any consciousness. These were created on the third day, immediately after the earth resurrected from the death water.