The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul's Epistles - 3

Message Title: the Power and Characteristics of God Manifested in His Outward and Physical Creation as a Picture of Our Experience of Christ as Life in His Inner and Spiritual New Creation 

I. Genesis 1:1 speaks of God's original creation; the word creatd here means to bring something into existence out of nothing 

Zechariah 12:1 The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him,

from this verse we can see that in His creation God made three crucial, equally important items, which are the heavens, the earth, and the spirit of man. the heavens are for the earth, the earth is for man, and man is created by God with a spirit that he may contact God, receive God, worship God, live God, fulfill God's purpose for God, and be one with God. our human spirit is the key in God's New Testament economy, because the Spirit, the processed and consummated Spirit is now in our spirit, and we can be joined to the Lord as one spirit. 

Colossians 1:16 Because in Him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or lordships or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and unto Him.

Colossians 1:17 And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him;

"In Him" means in the power of Christ's person; all creation bears the characteristics of Christ's intrinsic power; "through Him" indicates that Christ is the active instrument through which the creation of all things were accomplished in sequence; "unto Him" indicates that Christ is the end of all creation; all things were created unto Him for His possession. Christ is the center holding our universe, also our personal universe. if it is not Christ, the whole universe would already collapose and become a mess. Therefore, Christ must have the first place in the whole universe, including our personal universe. 

II. the created universe manifests the power and the characteristics of God and speaks forth Christ, the embodiment of God, as the Desire of all the nations; the all-inclusive Christ is the reality of all the positive things in the universe

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of Him, both His eternal power and divine characteristics, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being perceived by the things made, so that they would be without excuse;

people like to go to the nature and appreciate the amazing creation. why do people like to climb the mountains? why do people like to go to the beach to enjoy the ocean? because the mountains and the oceans, all the beautiful sceneries speak forth Christ, the beaty, the majesty of the Creator. the universe is the manifestation and declaration of God's glory. God created us for His glory. 

III. the Spirit, the word, and the light were the instruments used by God to generate life on the first day of His restoration and further creation for the fulfillment of His purpose; the Spirit, the word and the light are all of life

in Genesis chapter 1, we that when we have God's speaking, we have light, and the result of this is life. the history of the old creation typifies the path of our experience of life in the new creation; the deeper, intrinsic significance of the outward, physical world is a relfection of the reality of the inner, spiritual world; actually, God is building up a spiritual world with the transfigured Christ, the transformed Christ, as the life-giving Spirit. while we were in darkness and wasteness, there was the brooding of the Spirit. then light shined upon us to luminatee us who were in the dark. 

IV. the light-bearers appeared on the fourth day to produce the higher forms of life

when God said "let there be light", it was the light for the first day. but on the fourth day, there came sun, moon, the light-bearers. life depends on light. the fourth day light, the stronger light-bearers were for the producing of higher forms of life, including the human life. 

the sun signifies Christ, and also the overcoming saints. the moon can be considered as a figure of the church, the wife of Christ. the church shines in the dark night of the church age by reflecting the divine light of Christ. the stars first signifies Christ and then the overcomers; the shining of the overcoming saints as the heavenly stars is needed particulary in the time of the church's degradation.