In the previous chapter we have seen the main items in Genesis 1, the first chapter of the Scriptures. We have seen that the direction of God’s creation is toward the goal of life. On the first day there was no life. There was only the Spirit of God coming to shine, to move, to brood, and to bring light into darkness. When the light came, there was the dividing.
On the third day there was the dividing of the land from the waters. With the land there is life, and with the waters there is death. With the land there are the riches of life and the beauty of life. The third day is a symbol of the resurrection life. It is a day of resurrection. On the third day all the different kinds of life-grass, herbs, trees-came into being. All these kinds of life came into being on the land, through the land, and from the land.
The land recovered from the burial of the waters of death typifies Christ resurrected from death. He is the all-inclusive land. With Him there are the riches of life. All the herbs, the trees, the flowers, and the plants are figures of the riches of Christ Himself as life. Christ is rich in life like all the plants. Whenever you see a flower that is so beautiful and the trees and grass that are so green, you have to realize that all these things are signs, types, figures, of the very Christ of God. He is rich in life. He is the One who was resurrected on the third day. He is the One who was buried into the depths of death, yet He was raised up. He was recovered. He was resurrected from the dead to show that He is the Lord of life, the Author of life (Acts 3:15). With Him there are the riches of life.
On the third day with the land we can also see the beauty of life. The flowers reveal the beauty of Christ expressed in His life. No one can exhaust speaking about the varieties of flowers in their beauty. All these flowers are figures of the beauties of Christ as life to us. This is something revealed and taught by the Scriptures. Song of Songs 1:14 mentions the henna flower, an Old-World plant with which Jewish girls beautified themselves. Christ is a cluster of henna flowers. He is beautiful. Not only so, in Song of Songs 1:13 Christ is likened to a bundle of myrrh. Myrrh signifies the sweetness, the sweet smell, of Christ. Christ is so sweet to us. Christ is life to us in beauty and in sweetness.
In the second chapter of Song of Songs, Christ is likened to an apple tree (v. 3). With Him there is the shadow under which we are covered from the sunshine to enjoy rest, and with Him there is the fruit which we can taste for our satisfaction. In the fifth chapter of Song of Songs, Christ is likened to the cedars (v. 15). Cedars are big trees grown on the mountains of Lebanon. They signify the greatness of Christ. The plants-the trees, the grass, the flowers-are figures of Christ as life to us. He is so beautiful, so sweet, so great, and so rich!
We are told that most of these plants produced from the land on the third day were the plants yielding fruit. This means that they yield food for the life supply. Revelation 22:2 says that the tree of life produces twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month. Christ as life to us is not only beautiful, sweet, and rich, but also supplying what we need all the time. Thus, we can see that the land recovered on the third day is an all-inclusive type of Christ, and all the plants produced from the land represent the different aspects of Christ as life to us.
On the fourth day were the greater lights, the embodied lights. This means that there was more light and thus more life would be produced. So on the fifth day we see the stronger life in its riches and beauties. This is a life that can live in salty water, that is, in an environment of death. This is another aspect of Christ being life to us.
In the sight of God, human society today is like a sea of death, a dead sea. Some American friends once asked me if I appreciated Los Angeles. I said, “Yes, I do, but you have to realize what Los Angeles is in the eyes of God. It is nothing but a dead sea, a sea full of death.” Not only a big city but even a small village is a small part of the dead sea. However, Christ can live in this environment of death. If you have Christ as life, you can live in this dead sea. You can live in this salty water yet not be salted, not be affected or influenced by death.
When I first went to Shanghai, the biggest city in China, some people took me to the main street of the city and said, “Brother Lee, look at all these attractive and sinful stores. Are you not afraid that you will be affected?” I said, “Brothers, as far as myself is concerned, I am afraid. But as far as Christ is concerned, I am not afraid, because Christ is living within me all the time. He can live in the environment of death, yet He cannot be affected. He can never be influenced by anything of death.” This is just like the fish. They can live in the salty water, but they can never be salted unless they are killed.
On the fifth day there was also a life that can fly. It is a life that is transcendent, a life that is above all. Nothing can suppress it, nothing can retain it, and nothing can hold it. This signifies Christ as life to us.
On the sixth day God created the cattle and the beasts of the earth. This is the life that can do something for man. The life of a dog is much stronger than that of a fish. Then there is the highest life among the creatures, which is the human life. This is a life that not only can live in death, be transcendent, work for God, and do the will of God, but also can express and represent God. This is a life with the image of God and the authority of God. It is at this point that God rested.
The completion of God’s work is a life with His image and His authority. We may have thought that God rested because He had finished His work. But as long as there is not a life with the image and authority of God, there is no rest for God. God is still working today in the New Testament age because there is the lack of such a life that is full of His image and His authority. The goal, the aim, of the Lord’s work is to gain a life that can express Him and represent Him in a full way. If there is such a life, there is the completion of the work of God and God can have the rest, the Sabbath.
We need to see the picture of God’s creation. It starts with the things without life, the inanimate things. Then gradually it goes on to different stages of life. First, it is the vegetable life, which is the lower life, a life without consciousness. Then it goes on to the higher life with a low consciousness. This includes the life of the fish, the birds, and even the cattle, the beasts, and the creeping things. Eventually, there is the highest life of the creatures with the highest consciousness. That is the human life, a life which can express and represent God. The central thought of God is to bring life to us so that we can bear His image and have His authority.
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