Foundational Themes in Genesis – Study 6

Through the physical creation process, God reveals that He is the one who predetermined all things even in His book of the generations of the first Adam (Psa 139:16), but that spirit life is only received through the last Adam, Jesus Christ:

1Jn 5:12 He that hath the Son [Jesus, not the first Adam] hath [spirit)]life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

In the first three verses of Genesis 1, God established very important themes which reveal this truth and how God works to bring spirit life to all eventually. Firstly, He reveals the “Elohim” or Godhead, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, in an intimate spiritual relationship. This relationship is reflected in God’s creation of the Adam, husband being the head of the wife, and also in the Christ, Jesus and His body, the church (Gen 1:27, Gen 5:1-2, 1Cor 11:3, Eph 1:22-23, Eph 5:22-33). Jesus, coming out of the Father, has the Father’s spirit in full and is the “first fruit” (Hebrew: rêshı̂yth) of the creation of God (Rev 3:14, John 1:1-4, Col 1:15-19). Jesus is the only one who was created by the Father to have His full spiritual image, and, through Jesus all will be given this fullness of spirit eventually:

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;

Jesus was chosen by God to have preeminence in all things:

Gen 1:1 In the beginning [Hebrew: “reshiyth” = “firstfruit” = Jesus Christ] God created the heaven and the earth.

Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Through the physical creation week, God reveals how He has written or established important principles when “as yet” nothing of the physical man Adam was there. Adam was only created on the sixth day! The first five days were put in place to show us that God has a plan – one plan for the first man Adam and all in him. Adam will start off in a temporary state of flesh having his mind in spiritual darkness before he will be made in spirit and eternal. God “works” all of this for His purpose and will:

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

He established beforehand that darkness was to rule man’s life initially before He will bring spiritual light which is resurrection life (or spirit life) through Jesus, who is the light of the world. This was symbolized when He made the earth without form, void and full of darkness (Gen 1:2-5). In each of the six creation days God emphasizes this by bringing forth the evening (darkness) first and the morning (light) afterwards. Physically we see that on day one this rotational process of the earth was given momentum within this theme – night followed by day, or darkness followed by light. Although the lights which will control the night and the day will only be created physically on the fourth day, the principle of what “the day” and “the night” is all about was already established and put in motion on day one (Gen 1:2-5):

Joh 11:9 Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
Joh 11:10 But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.

Adam (and Eve) “walked in the night”, and they had ‘no light in him’ – that is why they stumbled and disobeyed God’s commandment. The number twelve is very important concerning the time God ordained for “the light” to be seen, as well as the time when “the light” will not be seen. Spiritually the number 12 relates to foundational truths, and here it relates to the fruits which “the day” or “the night” is ordained to bring forth.

(Please read the study on the spiritual meaning of the number twelve at this link: http://www.iswasandwillbe.com/twelve.php).

The first man Adam was not God’s chosen vessel to have spiritual life. The first born is never accepted to be God’s carrier of light. One example is Cain, Adam’s first born. He did not receive the truth of how to please God through his offering. Only the offering of the second-born Abel, who is a type of the last man Adam (Christ), was accepted:

Gen 4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
Gen 4:5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

Another example is that God did not make His spiritual or everlasting covenant with Ishmael, Abraham’s first born, but with the second-Isaac (a type of Christ):

Gen 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Gen 17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.

Although God blessed Ishmael with 12 princes, this is just to emphasize the negative application of the foundations of the spiritual darkness (“the night”) in the first born which points back to the first Adam. God does not love the flesh in the first Adam the way he loves the spiritual man Christ who came afterwards:

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

This relationship God has with the first man Adam, who is born in darkness, is also expressed in His hatred towards Esau, the first born of Isaac, in relation to His intimate love for the second-born, Jacob (again a type of Christ):

Rom 9:10 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

The first born is rejected throughout the Scriptures, even when he is called the first anointed king of Israel, like King Saul. (Saul was anointed with a manmade vial after a public meal which points to him being a man-pleaser – he was searching for his father’s donkeys at the time. David, the accepted king after God’s heart, was anointed in private with a God-made horn – he was attending to his father’s sheep). We all mourn when we find out what our first man Adam, our flesh, is all about:

1Sa 10:1 Then Samuel took a vial (flask) of oil, and poured it upon his head, and kissed him, and said, Is it not because the LORD hath anointed thee to be captain over his inheritance?

1Sa 15:26 And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee: for thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD hath rejected thee from being king over Israel.

1Sa 16:1 And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king among his sons.

The first physical nation of Israel were predestined before the foundation of the world to be replaced by the spiritual Israel or Jews of God:

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

This is another foundational theme that relates directly with Genesis 1 verses 2 to 5 as to how God determined His election from the beginning. God has predestinated choices which so many hate to hear and admit. An important part of the doctrine of Christ is the doctrine of predestination. Yes, God preordained to “hate” Esau before he was born “neither having done any good or evil” just as God preordained the first man Adam not to be spiritually perfect:

Jer 18:4 And the vessel that he made of clay [“dust”/“out of the earth”/“earthy”)]was marred [not perfect] in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

Rom 8:20 For the creature was made [Greek aorist tense = is, was and will be the same] subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

The first Adam was subjected to vanity, yet subjected in the hope of a spiritual resurrection afterward. God’s predestinated spiritual election is not according to what we do or don’t do, but it is according to His purposes. Predestination is part of God’s plan from the beginning as confirmed throughout Scriptures:

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Act 4:28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. [Jesus’ death on a cross was predestinated before the first Adam]

1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

God has predetermined that Jesus will be the life-giving spirit, not the first Adam. He predetermined that the darkness of the vessel of dishonour of Adam (and all in him) must come before the spiritual light is given in the vessel of honour:

Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

God has only one will as He only has one plan. Many believe that God has different “wills” because they cannot see that God works through an evil and dark physical creation of death first to bring forth His marvellous light eventually. God indeed creates and causes all evil in “the night” first, as He also works all the good in “the day” afterwards. However, He expresses or declares “the day” first and then takes His creation through an evil experience in “the night” to get to “the day”:

Isa 46:10 (Darby) declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure;

Ecc 1:13 (CLV) I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens:it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

When we are in this “vessel of dishonour”” we cannot even spite God when we think we can turn our back on Him and disobey Him. So why does “He yet find fault?” This is extremely hard and impossible for “the man of sin” in us to give an accounting. The natural “man of sin” is convinced that he is “responsible” for his thoughts and actions as he sits on God’s throne “showing himself that he is God”:

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition [Greek: “apōleia” = in ruin];
2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The “falling away first” is referring to Adam’s initial state of darkness – Adam (and all in him) is the son(s) of perdition – the dishonoured vessel of flesh that is in the process of ruin from the Potter’s hand. The man of sin is the first man Adam who has been preordained to be the son of perdition. He was never outside death – he is dying from his creation. Jesus did not come to destroy our already dying bodies, but to destroy the death of the carnal mind (the works of Satan in us – 1Jn 3:8):

1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

That is why the flesh hates and persecutes the spirit, especially when it finds out its dying condition and temporal place in God’s plan:

Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.

If we cannot receive that Adam was born or created in sin and iniquity, we cannot receive the spiritual things through the last Adam, Jesus Christ. It is only through the revelation of this wicked man of sin in the first Adam and in all of us that we start the process of being set free from his influence. This revelation of the wicked man of sin in us is an on-going process until we blow out our last earthly breath – to give up the spirit of this world. This is when our natural mind is totally destroyed by His Word:

2Th 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed [Greek: Aorist tense], the son of perdition;

If we find the Hope of salvation for ourselves, we find that same hope for all in Adam:

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.