Читать книгу Secret References to Christ In the Old testament Scriptures - Kenneth B. Alexander - Страница 4

We have touched on Christ’s role in the creation in the Introduction. The Gospel of John opens with a declaration of the deity of Christ: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God" (John 1:1, 2).

What does it mean He existed in the beginning with God (the Father)? It is impossible for the human mind to grasp the concept of eternity. We cannot imagine timelessness and spacelessness. "Time" and "place" help to keep order in our lives. Yet the Father and the Son and the Spirit existed eternally, sharing an eternal love. If we, in this brief span of time that we call "life," can learn to love deeply as God does, the people that we do; if we, with our sins, can grow in our love for others; just think of what kind of perfect, timeless, uninterrupted, unchanging love the Father and the Son and the Spirit enjoyed throughout eternity. God’s ultimate purpose is to bring glory to His name. "...to the praise of the glory of His grace...to the praise of His glory...to the praise of His glory..." (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14). He will do this by uniting "all things in Christ" (Ephesians 1:10). Today, sin is dividing and destroying; but when God wraps up history, all things will unite in Christ and bring glory to God. 1 Corinthians 15: 24 says: “then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all [evil] rule and all authority and power”. Then God’s purpose is fulfilled as he is again reconciled to His creation in a oneness and all the glory is visibly His again.

As the logos, the Word of the Father God defined His role in creation. Genesis 1:1-31 says: “In the beginning God [the Father] created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, [waste and emptiness] and  darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God, [The Holy Spirit] was moving over the surface of the deep. Then  God said, [Christ] “Let there be light”… Then God said, “Let there be an  expanse in the midst of the waters,… Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so….Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; …Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.”…Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us [Father, Son and Spirit] make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man  in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them….Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;…God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good”.

This passage in Genesis is our first introduction to the creative word of God or logos. As Hebrews says: “By faith we understand that the worlds [ages] were prepared [framed, created] by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3). This is the first reference to creative prophecy. Creative prophecy was exercised thereafter by all prophets and men of God speaking the Word of God. Just as creation was created by a spoken Word of God so too prophets spoke a creative word that created into physical manifestation what they were speaking. Those that spoke directly of a coming Messiah and also created His appearance on earth into existence by a spoken Word.

A true prophet is a seer and creator of God’s divine will by speaking it into existence. There are three Hebrew words used to describe the prophet in the Old Testament scriptures: nāḇî’, rō’eh and ḥōzeh. The first of these is always translated ‘prophet’; the second, which is, in form, an active participle of the verb ‘to see’, is translated ‘seer’; the third, also an active participle of another verb ‘to see’, is without distinctive English equivalent and is translated either ‘prophet’ (e.g. Is. 30:10) or ‘seer’ (e.g. 1 Ch. 29:29). In Greek the prophet is προφήτης prophētēs (a forth teller of God’s divine will) which is derived from πρό pro which means before and φημί phēmi which means “to declare”. Therefore, from the ancient languages, a prophet is a seer of the divine will “before” it happens and it is then “declared” into existence by the spoken word.

So God created all things by a Word, the Word of His Son, the logos or Word (expression) of God. As a side note He also created them “after their kind” disputing the scientific theory of evolution. He made man as the crowning achievement of His creation, not evolving from some other kind of life as science would have you believe. He created everything in its order, not by some cosmic accident.

At the time of creation, and before, God had a plan for mankind. He knew who they were before the foundations of the world. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He [Christ] would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He  predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified” (Romans 8:29-30). God, from the beginning planned to have not just one but many Sons conformed to His image. Hebrews 2:10-11 says: “For it was fitting for Him, [Christ] for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing MANY SONS TO GLORY, to perfect the author of their salvation [Christ] through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies [Christ] and those who are sanctified [the many Sons] are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren”.

God created man from the earth. “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [or soul] (Gen 2:7). Formed or fashioned is the term for an artist’s work. The Hebrew term יוֹצֵר yotser refers to a potter; (see Jer 18:2–4.). He was formed from the ground or soil according to the ancient languages. Whatever is given this breath of life becomes animated with the life from God, has spiritual understanding (Job 32:8), and has a functioning conscience (Prov 20:27). The life given to man is different from the life given to animals for those reasons. Scripture says man became a “living soul”. “So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam [Christ and His Sons] became a life-giving [creative] spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man [Adam] is from the earth, earthy; [made of dust] the second man [Christ] is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have  borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).

The man was desperately lonely. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”… So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.” …And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:18, 21-25).

She was formed from man’s rib (Heb. tsela‘). This indicates that woman was made of more precious material, dust doubled refined. Woman is one with man for she came from him. She had a claim upon man for protection and affection. Long ago Matthew Henry observed: “She was not made out of his head, to rule over him; nor out of his feet, to be trampled on by him; but out of his side, to be equal with him; under his arm, to be protected; and near his heart, to be beloved.” The man and woman were naked and by implication naïve and unaware of sin. Man/woman were created perfect and were placed in a perfect environment for them to grow and be productive throughout eternity.