The Bible is a unified collection of different types of literature that in some way, shape, or form point to Jesus Christ. Even way back in the Creation narratives. After all, he was there the entire time.
Jesus’ existence didn’t begin in that manger in Bethlehem. He has always been, just as the Father and the Spirit have always been. There are several New Testament passages that point to this:
- John 1:1-5,18 – “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God…”
- John 8:58 – “Before Abraham was, I am.” (Jesus uses the same name that God introduces himself to Moses with!)
- John 17:4-5,24 – The relationship between the Father and Son “before the foundation of the world.”
- Colossians 1:15-23 – “By Him all things were created…”
- Hebrews 1:1-4 – Through Christ, God created the world.
- Hebrews 4:3 – Christ’s works were already finished from the foundation of the world! (More on how time works from God’s perspective in another article perhaps, but God is beyond time. He is the beginning and the end all at once. Time is within him.)
So back to creation: What’s something in the Creation narratives that point to Christ? The easy one is Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
But there’s so much more!
DAY ONE: Genesis 1:3-5 – God separates the light from darkness
Jesus is the light.
- John 1:4-5 – “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
- John 8:12 – “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
His Light shines through us as we live by his life.
- Matthew 5:14-16 – “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 – “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
DAY TWO: Genesis 1:6-8 – God separates the water from the sky
The Heavens are separated from the Earth. This is a prophecy of what will happen between man and God and what must eventually come to bridge that gap—Jesus’ sacrifice.
- Isaiah 59:2 – “…but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
- John 8:23-24 – “He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
- Hebrews 9:28 – “So Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
DAY THREE: Genesis 1:9-13 – The dry ground appears out of the sea with fruit-bearing vegetation
The sea initially covers the earth—the sea represents chaos, darkness, and death. God calls the land to appear, representing LIFE coming out of death and fruit being produced!
Also, what day did Jesus arise from the grave?
- Luke 9:22 – “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
- Luke 24:6-7 – “He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
Jesus is the Tree of Life. In the Garden of Eden, God invited Adam and Eve to partake of the Tree of Life. They opted instead for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and access to the Tree of Life was cut off. When Christ came to Earth, that access was restored!
- John 5:21 – Christ gives us life.
- John 6:33 – He’s the bread of life.
- John 6:53-58, Matthew 26:26-28 – Jesus is the new tree of life we should eat from
- John 11:25-26 – Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life
- John 19:41, John 20:15 – Jesus’ body was laid in a garden after the crucifixion, and after he was raised Mary even thought he was the gardener!
- Colossians 3:4 – Christ is our life!
- 1 Corinthians 15:22,45 – Christ is our life-giving spirit
- Romans 8:10 – Christ in us is life.
- Ephesians 2:1-10 – “…But God…made us alive together in Christ…”
It’s also a picture of our own regeneration and new life coming out of death.
- Romans 6:3-4 – “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
- Romans 7:4 – “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”
DAY FOUR: Genesis 1:14-19 – God creates the sun, moon, and stars
Jesus is the Sun!
- Malachi 4:2 – “But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”
- Luke 1:78 – “…because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high.”
His church is the Moon. The church has no light of its own, but reflects his light. The church witnesses over the night (the darkness in the world).
- Psalm 89:36-37 – “His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.”
We as individuals are the stars.
- Philippians 2:15 – “That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights [stars] in the world.”
- Daniel 12:3 – “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”
Jesus ascends back to the Heavens after his resurrection.
- Mark 16:19 – “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.”
God wanted to co-rule with us!
- Psalm 136:7-9 – “…to him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever; the sun to rule over the day, for his steadfast love endures forever; the moon and stars to rule over the night, for his steadfast love endures forever…”
DAYS FIVE & SIX: Genesis 1:20-31 – God creates sea creatures, birds, land animals, and humans
God fills the earth with lifeforms, culminating in the highest lifeform on Earth – humans. He gave them the Tree of Life to eat and the River of Life to drink so that they could live by HIS divine, eternal life.
- John 6:53-58 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live by the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
- Genesis 3:22 – “Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
- 2 Peter 1:3-4 – “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”
DAY SEVEN: Genesis 2:1-3 – God rests, or reigns, from his throne with the Son
God ruled from his throne with the Son after creation.
- Isaiah 45:6-7 – “That people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
- Mark 16:19 – “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.”
- Acts 4:24 – “…Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…”
- 1 Corinthians 15:24-27 – “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”
- Colossians 1:15-16 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
God always wanted to co-rule with us!
- Isaiah 45:6-7 – “That people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
- Mark 16:19 – “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.”
- Acts 4:24 – “…Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them…”
- 1 Corinthians 15:24-27 – “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.”
- Colossians 1:15-16 – “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
- Genesis 1:26-28 – “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
- Genesis 2:15 – “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”
- Ephesians 2:6 – “…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
What an awesome God and Messiah we have!