The scriptures....they are they which testify of me! Genesis 1

Genesis chapter 1

"And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" 1v26 

On the face of it, Genesis chapter 1 is an account of the creation of the material universe, and of course this is so, as is repeated throughout scripture.  However there is also a principle throughout scripture that the natural creation is symbolic of the greater and superior new creation, which is spiritual and eternal and will outlast the natural.  It is from this perspective we can apply this chapter to what the bible calls the last Adam, the second Man, who is Jesus Christ.  That this is the genuine perspective of this opening chapter of the bible is evident from the following.  We know that everything God makes is perfect, this is a biblical principle.  Indeed at each stage God declared that it was good, and at the end declared it to be "very good".  A supreme God, who can speak worlds into being, makes nothing imperfect, that needs to be embellished in any way.  Yet it is recorded that "the earth was without form, and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep"-1v2.  So God made it like this initially by design, for He would bring light out of darkness; He would bring cosmos out of chaos; He would bring plenty out of emptiness by garnishing the earth and filling the seas and the firmament with life.  This is exactly how God made the earth, and for a reason, to illustrate how He would bring mankind out of darkness, and disorder, and dereliction, into the full wonder of life in Himself.  Therefore we can look beyond the natural creation and see in the days the story of new creation in Christ.

Day 1  Light introduced into darkness....symbolic of the INCARNATION

Day 2  Heaven and earth separated.....symbolic of the CRUCIFIXION

Day 3  Earth rises from the seas.....symbolic of the RESURRECTION

Day 4  Luminaries ruling in the skies....symbolic of the ASCENSION

Day 5  Life in the waters and in the skies...symbolic of global EVANGELISATION

Day 6  Life on the land and man in dominion...symbolic of RESTITUTION

Day 7  Eternal day without a night...symbolic of  SATISFACTION

What God created, despite the intrusion of sin, will be ultimately perfect, and this is the story of the Bible from the very outset.  It began with a scene of darkness, and disorder, and dereliction.  Then the Spirit of God hovered over the empty, chaotic, and lifeless darkness to produce light and life and love.  The sixth day ends with the man and the woman in the image of God in total dominion over all the earth.  Symbolic of Christ and the Church, which union is developed throughout the sacred writings.   Only in Christ will mankind be in the image of God, and after His likeness.  The fact that it will be so is the astonishing truth expounded in the Bible.  The entrance of sin bringing death and darkness will not prevent the decree of God, that man and woman in perfect conformity to the Creator will rule the earth-refer Psalm 8; Psalm 72; Hebrews 2; Revelation 3 and 20, and others.  Imprinted on the first page of the Bible is the glorious dominion of Christ as man with His bride.  In the language of the last book of the Bible, from Revelation 4v11, we give homage to the God who created us and has redeemed us...

"Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created."