Introduction
The Holy scriptures open with the Divine Author. “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”. In the original Hebrew, this initial verse of the first chapter of Genesis contains seven words. Seven is a number of perfection. That means in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth perfectly and not as a waste. We do not know when the heaven and the earth were created. It could be millions of years ago. But the bare fact is “God created”. The Bible never states that God created the heaven and the earth in the beginning Six thousand years ago and in six days! No! There is something a big catastrophe that happened which made the beautiful earth “without form and void” (Gen 1:2). The interval between Gen 1:1 and Gen 1:2 is wide enough to embrace all the prehistoric ages. That is not explained since that Bible is not a book of science; its primary aim is to point sinners to Christ Jesus. But all that took place from Gen 1:3 took place about six thousand years ago when God restored the submerged earth from the dark waters and made it a fit place for a man to live. “In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is” (Exodus 20 : 11) ‘created’ and ‘made’ are two different things. ‘Created’ means calling into being out of nothing. ‘Made’ means doing something on the matter already there. I cannot create a chair but I can make a chair! On the first day, God did not create light. He commanded the light because the light was already there. God only restored what was already there. So my friend! the Bible never states the age of the earth is six thousand years in length. It merely shows the history of the present human race from Adam is six thousand years in length. What was before Adam we do not know. It could be ape like creatures or some humanoid form- all buried under water! We do not present this interpretation to pacify science. We believe the ‘Word of God’ and not ‘science’. “The mind of flesh is enmity against God” – Romans 8:7
When the spirit was moving
The scripture states in Gen1:2, “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”. In the beginning God created the perfect heaven and the earth. Later on (no knowledge how long afterwards) the earth became waste and void. And darkness was upon the earth (deep). Due to a great rebellion by Satan and his angels, the beautiful earth which God created became waste and void due to judgement of God and darkness covered the face of the deep. At that time the spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
The story of the earth is the story of mankind. When God created man, He created him perfectly, beautiful and without blemish and in the image and likeness of God. Man was created as a tripartite being- Body, soul and spirit. Spirit being the deepest part of man whereby he could not talk to God, walk with God and have fellowship with God. He could worship God. No other creature can do all that man was able to do. God kept him as His viceroy over the earth. But he did not remain long in this beautiful state. Instead of obeying God’s word, Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, followed the word of Satan. Man had sinned and fallen. What they now received were the judgement and wrath of God. They became dark which means sinners and darkness covered the face of the deep which means man’s spirit (deep) became dark. He totally lost the ability to have fellowship with the true God. They were now naked, accursed and cast out. Though God gave them skin coats (Kethoneth) to wear, they had lost their original glory. The man who was created by God and made ‘alive‘ by the ‘breath of God’ (spirit of God)) now totally became soulish (selfish minded). The spirit of God could not take His abode in His sinful man. So the spirit of God was moving continuously seeking to find a sinless man for about four thousand years after man’s creation and He could not do so. He was moving and He could not rest for the scripture says ‘all have sinned and come short of the glory of God!’
The Spirit Rested
As we saw before, the spirit of God could nor rest due to sin of man. The spirit was moving trying to find someone on whom He could rest. As the scripture says, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, it is sin which did not give rest to the spirit of God. Finally He could find a person, a sinless one, on whom He could rest and that was JESUS CHRIST. The scripture says, “He knew no sin, and in Him was no sin” He was conceived of the Holy Ghost “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of God” (Luke 1:35). He was led by the Holy Ghost and that was the only Person who had the holiness if at all the Holy Ghost could rest.
Before going further, let us illustrate this fact from the Old Testament. Let us go back to the familiar story of ‘Noah’s Ark and the Flood’. “And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. And he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand and took her and pulled her in unto him into the ark. And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came into him in the evening; and lo in her mouth was an Olive leaf plucked off: So Noah knew the waters were abated from off the earth. And he stayed yet other seven days and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more”(Gen 8:6-12)
To begin at the beginning, Noah’s very name foreshadowed the Coming One. Noah means “rest”. He was regarded as the one who should be the rest-giver. “Come unto Me all ye that are labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest“(Matt 11:28)
Leaving out the details of the story, let us concentrate of what happened after the great flood which killed every living except those who were in the ark. The ‘great Flood’ is a type of the ‘great judgement’ which due to sin should punish every living thing on earth. After the Flood, Noah wanted to come out of the ark on the New earth. But he did not know whether the Floodwaters were abated or not. So he decided to send a ‘raven’ to find out the fact.
The ‘raven’ was not a suitable bird. It leads a double life. It eats Good and dirty food. It has a tendency to eat dead and dry flesh. So what happened? It went and came back and was going and coming- a wanderer but could not make Noah understand anything. Isn’t it true of some Christians who lead the raven life? They are saved but they are not useful to God because of their lust for flesh, They are saved but they are not useful to God because of their unsteady nature. They still love the world, the flesh and fall a prey to the devil. “I wrote unto the church: but Di-ot-re-phes who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not” (III John verse 9)
So Noah knew that nothing could be understood through the ‘raven’. So he chose a second bird and that was the ‘dove’. The dove is a clean bird and is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. When he let out the dove for the first time, it found no rest and returned unto him. Because all around the ark were the dead and putrefied corpses and the ‘dove’ could not stay there. Similarly, when man sinned, the ‘Holy Spirit’ could not rest because all men have sinned, dead in trespasses and sins. So the Holy Spirit was moving over sinful humanity unable to find rest.
After seven days, Noah sent the ‘dove’ again. This time it brought forth an ‘Olive leaf’. And Noah knew the waters were receding but still not dry. It so happened in the fullness of time, God sent a message, an ‘olive leaf’, a message of peace, through the Holy Spirit for the whole world. “And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night………And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for ,behold I bring you good tidings(news) of great joy……Unto you is born this day… a Saviour…” (Luke 2:8-14)
JESUS was born as a Saviour to the whole world. The ‘olive leaf’- the message of peace- the Son of God became the Son of Man. “God So loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever beleiveth on Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16)
Then after seven days, Noah sent the ‘dove’ again, which did not return unto him again. The ‘dove’ had found a resting place.
JESUS was born and grew up and when He was thirty years old(fullness of time) He went to be baptized by John the Baptist. “And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straight way out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting(resting) upon Him” (Math 3:16). Finally, the ‘dove’ could find ONE MAN, JESUS and came and rested upon HIM. Glory to God!
After Noah saw that he stepped on to the NEW EARTH. “SAVED NATIONS SHALL WALK IN IT”
