Genesis – The Darkness
Genesis 1:2
But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these; (Daniel 2:28)
Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? (Isaiah 40:12)
Who hath directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counsellor hath taught him? (Isaiah 40:13)
With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and shewed to him the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:14)
And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)
He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. (Psalm 33:7)
He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. (Job 26:7)
He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them. (Job 26:8)
He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.(Job 26:9)
He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end. (Job 26:10)
The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof. (Job 26:11)
He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud. (Job 26:12)
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent. (Job 26:13)
Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand? (Job 26:14)
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. (Genesis 1:2)
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters — there is a dead silence in the darkness — the darkness has never heard the voice of God, and thus, the Spirit of God moves over the face of the deep. A globe in the darkness of space that hangs on nothing; and yet, it is placed and hung there by the power of the Almighty God. It has no form nor comeliness, and when or if we could see it, there is no beauty in it that we should desire it.
In the revelation of God to man this is where He begins. The Holy Spirit begins to move and form, and by the voice of God, this jewel that we see in space today is brought to fill the darkness around it with brilliant colors. Although the waters of the earth have been tossed to and fro by the total destruction of it’s surface by a flood as God washed away the evil in the days of Noah, this planet has endured; yet, the Spirit of God has embraced it, made and kept it to be fashioned as the only such jewel in all the darkness of space. Although a fine and precious jewel like Earth, it is dependent on the sun and the moon; the sun lights it’s path through the darkness of space; and the moon hovers over it’s tides and seasons. It’s speed is measured by divine meter so that it maintains it’s gravity. It’s inner core moves and shifts to maintain it’s balance, and above this jewel flows the rolling cotton white clouds filled with the former and the latter rain to quench it’s thirst. It’s mountains stare into heaven, and stare down to man. And the Spirit of God moves over the beauty of the land; the fields of wheat and barley, and the corn glistens in the sun, and the ice caps crack and roll into the sea; the green of all the earth giving us air to breath, and cleansing that air with it’s smile of grace. Yes, the Spirit moves over the face of the earth; and yet, I cannot believe that this was the very beginning of the process of creation. There are many verses throughout the Scriptures that describe the creation, and verses that take us back before the creation of the world.
Creation and Revelation
The issue is not creation but revelation. Through the canon of the Scripture we continually see the revelation of God and God’s creatorial power and Godhead. From Genesis 1:1 to Genesis 1:2 God breaks off from heaven and concentrates on the earth. Heaven will wait for a further revelation in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. We will not see the beauty and the majesty of God’s throne and all that He made in heaven, for God is now going to concentrate on the Earth spinning in the darkness of space.
Remember: God spoke these words of Genesis to Moses. He spoke these words from His holy mount on the Sinai peninsula. He was speaking to an infant nation, Israel. He was revealing Himself to man, and giving man a record of His creation to reveal His own power and Godhead. It is not a record of how, but a record of who He is, and why He is revealing Himself. As we read in verse 1, He brings us to the very moment of creation; and through His infinite power reveals Himself as the Creator. In verse 1 He has revealed Himself, and His majesty, as a tripartite Being, and He introduces Himself as ‘elohiym. We also see this approach in the New Testament, both in John’s gospel (John 1:1-4) and in the Book of Hebrews, Chapter 1.
In the Book of Hebrews, we find the declaration of God, once again, to the nation of Israel. He declares Himself in the very first word of the book, He simply says, ‘God;’ this is the fullness of the God of Genesis 1:1; just as He presents Himself as the fullness of the Godhead bodily in Genesis. In the New Testament the Book of Hebrews brings all this majesty to light in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave this revelation of Hebrews in the beginning of the Church age, for once again, ‘elohiym would speak directly to the nation of Israel not from a mountain as Mount Sinai, but from heaven itself, and from the Spirit of Christ. (Romans 8)
Beyond Time
In verse 2 of Genesis 1, the world was without form, do you see a time line? Are there any clocks ticking in the darkness? Do you see a table of blueprints or plans laid out before man? No, once again I remind you that God is not revealing the world but revealing Himself to the earth dweller. Which in this case was to the infant nation of Israel, and through Moses, the servant of God. The denial of God and His rights are not new from the heart of man. The first man, Adam, violated God’s rights when Adam refused to obey; the prophet Samuel reminded us that it is better to obey than to sacrifice.
The Witnesses of His Power
At Sinai we have this small nation; God had gathered them together on the Sinai peninsula at the foot of His holy mountain, Mount Sinai. This small infant nation of approximately 700,000 had witnessed the power of God when they came out of Egypt. They had witnessed all the great plagues that the great I AM had performed through Moses and Aaron witnessing of God’s great power over His own creation. They had escaped the last judgment of the angel of death by the blood of the lamb. They had passed through the walls of water, through the heart of the Red Sea, this was one of the signs and wonders that God would show them through their history. In Genesis He was declaring who He was, the very Creator of all things. Through the Red Sea and into the wilderness He was not only revealing Himself, but displaying His power to this infant nation. Every one of His signs and wonders was revealing His power over the very creation that He had created. God would write by His power on the face of the Earth in the clouds above, in the mountain of fire, in the torrent of the sea, in the power over the serpent, and His grace to man. He had parted the sea with a stretched out arm, He had weighed the new nation in the balance of His judgment, all this knowing that in the history of man He knew the end from the beginning, and the beginning to the end. He would reveal Himself as the Divine Creator of heaven and earth. He would witness to this people the great power that brought about creation. This revelation would not end with Genesis, but continue through sundry times and in diverse manners till God would completely reveal Himself in the new heaven and the new earth.
God Must Reveal Himself
We are blessed in our day to have the complete written revelation of the Almighty God to man. The canon of Scripture is complete, but that does not stop the revelation of God to man. The very act of creation through salvation is God revealing Himself to the lost and hopeless sinner who dwells in the darkness of death. And God through His divine power and Godhead reveals Himself to take away the darkness and the death and shed divine light into the heart of man. In Hebrews, Chapter 1, the words ‘at sundry times and diverse manners’ are truly profound. Who would ever think of describing one’s own revelation with these profound words? How does so much majesty and power surround Him with these simple words? And why should the God of all creation concern Himself with man? God is truth, truth is His Being, and truth must be revealed to man through His counsel and His plan. This counsel and plan must be fulfilled by God, and God will determine it’s fulfillment and it’s process. God’s plan will bring forth the fullness of time, and bring forth His Son in the void and darkness of man’s soul: the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Description of Ruined Man
In Genesis 1:2, it is quite obvious that man was not created by God at this point; yet, God knowing all things gave a perfect description of what man would be in a ruined state. He would be void, and he would be darkness, and only the voice of God crying in the wilderness of his darkness and amongst the ruin, could save him. This description, therefore, that God gives us in Genesis 1:2 reaches through the history and time line of man.
The State and Condition Where God Begins His Revelation
God is revealing Himself as the healer of darkness. If one saw a great city that was completely destroyed and described this city as void, without form, and in darkness, then it would be accepted as being in a state and condition of complete desolation. This is exactly where the Almighty God desired to start with the revelation of Himself to man. Even though heaven is His throne He did not begin His revelation from heaven, but on the earth. He revealed Himself to Israel from Mount Sinai on the Earth; not from His throne, but from His footstool. What has God done? He has come down to man, being Holy and Righteous, and within Him all power contained; and yet, from heaven’s glory He came down to meet with man on His holy mountain. But this would not be the complete revelation of Himself, this would be the revelation of their Creator who was and is, the Creator of the heaven and the earth. Man waited thousands of years till God (through His Son, Jesus Christ) would manifest Himself among man.
Man and Earth Compared
When I began this article I deliberately inserted words from Isaiah 53 — why ?— to reveal the tremendous amount of unbelief that comes from the heart of man. God first revealed Himself to Israel as the Creator; then God came to Israel after thousands of years; He came to deliver them once more, and the light shined in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not. The nation was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the heart of His nation that He called His own. And although God was manifested in the flesh, revealed to all men, and after all that Israel had seen through their entire history, man would still not believe. You see all men are a shadow of the earth of Genesis 1:2. He has no spiritual form, and he is void of all godly understanding, and there is a thick darkness over his soul and heart. So deep is the darkness that it can only be removed by divine light. And this light forms a new creation in Jesus Christ.
The Responsibility of God’s Revelation to Man
Of all the nations of the world: it was to the descendants of Abraham, from the base of Mount Sinai, that these descendants now became a nation called out by God and delivered by God. They had no strength in themselves; God was revealing to them His great power and Godhead. He would choose them out of all the nations of the world to be His people. He would form them through death as they passed through the Red Sea. This death was not physical death, it was a witness of death passing into life. For as soon as they had crossed through the water God revealed the death that was in the water, all of Pharaoh’s army and Pharaoh passed out of this world through the waters of death. God’s great witness to Israel was that He had preserved them with His life from above. Pharaoh was destroyed and Israel would now be led by God who had separated them from Egypt and Pharaoh. When they were at Mount Sinai (which is also called Mount Horeb, and Peter in his epistle called it the mount of God) God presented Himself hovering over or brooding over them in a thick darkness. They were God’s people, He had claimed them and delivered them for He would complete and fulfill the promises that He made to His servant Abraham. Israel would be the depository of God’s truth, and they would be responsible for the revelation of God to man.
The Seen and the Unseen
God describes the desolation of this planet in verse 2 that He named Earth in verse 1. In verse 1, as I have said, we have the heaven and earth; now in verse 2 in the darkness of space God is only concerned with the Earth. The heaven of His glory would have to wait, for the purpose before Him was to reveal Himself as the Creator, as the Former, as the Founder, and as the Builder of the Earth; He and He alone formed and built this planet for a habitation for both man and beasts. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:3)
Formed and Filled
God had not only spoken the creation into existence, but now in this void and shapeless condition He would mold and fashion this earth to be a beautiful sculpture in the darkness of space by the word of His power. This planet without form would become a masterpiece in His divine blueprint. The planet, void, would be filled with His wisdom in all that would transform the ruin and emptiness by His Spirit. His Spirit would hover over the face of the deep, and as the divine Surveyor He would draw the lines and boundaries of the mountains, the rivers, the streams, the wilderness, the oceans and the lakes, the deserts, the plains and the forests would all be formed by the word of His power. He would build and preserve a habitation for man who He would create in His own image.
The Brooding Spirit of God
In this darkness, in the ruin, and in the void that exists do you not hear His voice as His Spirit passes over the silence of the deep? The Spirit of God brooding over the ruin as He would brood over the ruin of man that He would create in His own image. He would brood over the nation of Israel throughout it’s entire history. And in the fullness of time when He would send forth His Son, born of a woman, made under the law, after Israel had refused Him, He would brood once more, this time it would be over Jerusalem as a hen broods over her chicks. The cold and dark heart of His people had become without form and void of their God.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matthew 23:37)
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Matthew 23:38)
The History of God Is Not Complete
One must always consider that this history that we have of God is not the total history of our God. This is the history that He has declared to man, this is the history that reveals God’s purpose in the creation and the creation of man. Before the world was, God laid out His detailed purpose and plan for man and creation. As a believer, we have no problem with the end of time, and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. But show me (through Scripture) the description of this new heaven and this new earth, show me the colors that will shine there, show me the beings or the inhabitants, show me the landscape; there is none described in God’s word. As the Creator He simply tells us that He will create a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness will dwell, and where God will tabernacle with man. This is God’s revelation to us, we cannot insert our own feelings and whims, we must uphold what is revealed to us and learn about the very God who has revealed Himself to us.
In any revelation of God the revelation does not go from man to God, but from God to man. Revelation concerning the Person of God will always come from the mind of God. If we allow the void mind of man to insert his description or his desires into the word of God we are refusing God’s revelation to us. When sin came into the world through Adam, Adam became a creature that was void spiritually, he was without form and darkness was in and on the face of the waters of his heart. Once again, this divine revelation in Genesis 1:2 is only a shadow or type of what man would become in the eyes of God. And only through His power and revelation of Himself would man find any hope. And that hope was filled by the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Christ through His infinite saving power would become the driving force to drive away the darkness from within man’s heart and soul, and breathe by His Spirit divine light and life into the new creation that He called the sons of God.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (1 John 1:1)
(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (1 John 1:2)
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. (1 John 3:1)
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.(John 1:4)
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.(John 1:5)
He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.(John 1:10)
In closing: we live in a world that is in spiritual darkness, and darkness is on the face of the deep on the face of humanity. God will continue to hover over the human form, His Spirit will brood over the people of the world until His total revelation is known to man in the new heaven and the new earth. I look forward to what the Spirit of God will bestow upon us in verse 3 of Genesis, Chapter 1. Pray that the voice of God will give us much light in a dark world. Amen.
© Copyright 2016, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)