In this message we want to begin to see illustrations of receiving revelation from the holy Word and seeing vision through revelation by considering the facts, the revelation, and the visions in Genesis 1.
First, we must be familiar with the facts of the contents of the Bible.
The facts in Genesis 1 begin with God creating the heavens and the earth, and the earth becoming waste and void (vv. 1-2a).
God restored and remade the universe by His Spirit, His word, and His light (vv. 2b-31). On the first day light came to divide the light, day, from the darkness, night (vv. 3-5). On the second day God made the firmament to divide the waters from the waters (vv. 6-8). On the third day God gathered the waters under the heavens together unto one place, the dry land emerged, and the grass, herbs, and fruit trees were brought forth (vv. 9-13). On the fourth day God made the stronger lights-sun, moon, and stars (vv. 14-19). On the fifth day God created the aquatics in the seas and the birds in the air (vv. 20-23). On the sixth day God made the beasts, the cattle, the insects, and the creeping things, and lastly, He created man in His image and after His likeness to rule over all His created things (vv. 24-31). These are the facts recorded in Genesis 1. Anyone who can read carefully can get these facts. But the Bible is more than a book of facts. It is a book of revelation. Thus, we have to learn how to receive revelation through the facts of the Word.
Genesis 1 reveals that God’s creation was made according to His will for the accomplishment of His economy (Rev. 4:11; Eph. 1:10).
Genesis 1 also reveals that God’s creation is His testimony for man to know Him and seek after Him (Psa. 19:1-2; Rom. 1:20; Acts 14:15, 17; 17:24-27).
Genesis 1 shows that God’s creation was through Christ (John 1:3; Col. 1:16), the embodiment of the Triune God, as the Spirit who is His reality, as the Word of God which is the definition of God (John 1:1), and as the light. The Spirit, the Word, and the light were the instruments used by God to create the heavens and the earth. Christ is the Spirit, the reality of God; Christ is the Word, the speaking of God; and Christ is the light, the shining of God. Furthermore, the Spirit is of life, the Word is of life, and the light is of life.
In Genesis 1 the dry land emerging on the third day typifies Christ resurrected, emerged, from the waters of death to produce all kinds of life.
The plant life typifies the rich expression of the unsearchable riches of the life of Christ in their beauty for man’s sight (Gen. 2:9), in their fragrance (S.S. 1:12-13), and in their nourishing man and animals (Gen. 1:29-30). The plant life also typifies the rich expression of Christ’s life in Christ being the trees (Gen. 2:9; Exo. 15:23-25; S.S. 2:3; Ezek. 34:29; Isa. 11:1; John 15:1, 5; Rev. 22:2), the flowers (S.S. 1:14), the food for man (John 6:9, 13; Matt. 14:19-20; 15:36-37, 26-27; Rev. 2:7, 17), and the offerings to God (Lev. 2:1-3, 14). Christ fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish. The loaves are from the plant life, so that is the food for man. Also, the meal offering is made of fine flour of wheat for God’s people to eat as their food in their fellowship with God.
The animal life in the sea typifies the riches of the life of Christ in the power that overcomes death (salt water) in His living. The water in the sea is salt water, but the fish still can live in it. That is a picture of Christ’s life in us, showing that we can live in this world against all the salt, the things of death. The animal life in the sea also shows the riches of Christ’s life in feeding man with His riches (John 6:9a; 21:9).
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