In Your Beginning

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void: and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day" (Gen. 1:1-3).

In your beginning God created a part of you that corresponds to the heavens, your spirit, and a part of you that corresponds to the earth, your body. And because of sin, your life was without form and void, empty and aimless, and darkness was upon the deep part of you.

And the Spirit of God moved in your life, even when you were still dead in your sins and trespasses, preparing you for the word of God.

And God said, Let there be light, and you were enlightened. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Yeshua the Messiah” (2 Cor. 4:6).

And when you received Yeshua, the light of the world, God did not look at the sins of your past, but at Yeshua, the Light of the world in you, and He saw that He was good.

And God separated you from the darkness. And God called you a child of the day and of the light, no longer a child of the night and of the darkness.

And this transition from evening to morning was the first day, the beginning of your new life in Messiah.

The first day of creation in Genesis provides a template for how God commands the light of Yeshua to shine in our hearts. But God did not stop His work after the first day, and He does not stop His work in us after our initial enlightenment. There were five more days of work. God’s creative work on each of those days is experienced by us as we grow spiritually.

On day two there was separation of waters above and waters below. After our initial enlightenment, we are separated, sanctified, set apart as waters above in the heavenly places, no longer a part of the restless raging sea below, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

On day three dry land appeared and the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit trees yielding fruit whose seed was in itself. As we thirst for the Lord like dry land, we receive the Holy Spirit as a seed, and God causes us to bear the fruit of the Spirit.

On day four the sun, moon, and stars gave light. As we grow in our faith, we become luminaries who shine the light to others in the world.

On day five new life emerged from the waters. We should expect to see new life come forth as people are drawn to the Lord by seeing the fruit of the Spirit and the light of Messiah in us.

On day six man was created in the image of God. We presently bear the image of God, but that image is imperfect, marred by sin.

On the seventh day God rested. Shabbat is calling us to find rest unto our souls. As we resist temptation and overcome sin, we “labour to enter into that rest” of which Yeshua spoke: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:28-29).

Keeping the Sabbath faithfully and on the right day is important, but if our souls are still agitated and restless on the Sabbath day, we are missing out on the spiritual rest that the Sabbath points us to. Augustine said that our souls are restless until they find rest in God. May we all find rest unto our souls every Sabbath day, and may that rest refresh us and prepare us to face the following week with the joy of the Lord.

| DB

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Image: Psalm 65 by Daniel Botkin from his Psurrealistic Psalms Pseries. See this and all of Daniel’s art galleries on his art website, DanielBotkin.com.