What is this new creation and to what extent is it to be in my life? We have observed three creations revealed by Scripture: (1) the creation of the universe and this world, (2) the creation of the body of Jesus Christ in the incarnation, and (3) the new creation that commences in the newly born-again soul. We observe in Scripture that this new creation was imperatively needed because of a great fall of Adam. Adam’s fall marred and blighted the image of God that was part of the first creation of man by God. As a result, this natural man’s communing relationship with God ceased. We may wonder to what extent Adam saw God, heard Him, fellowshipped with Him before the fall. Although we are not told many details, there was an intimacy between God and man before that fall. That first created image was pure, holy, clear, and full.
However, Adam’s fall created a nature of sin that pervaded the human nature which God had made. Man became a creature in his own polluted image rather than in the image of God (Gen. 5:3). His world now became the product of himself; it was man’s world without his God and a love for his Creator. This fallen sinning creature necessitated a plan of redemption to recreate in man the holy, spiritual life that God intended in His creation. It was impossible for a sinful soul to evolve a holy nature and life out of man’s depraved self.
The Creation of Genesis One
To view the very first two verses, we must give simple observation of the true natural creation. The first verse of Genesis simply states the fact of the original creation and leaves it there in its dateless past. Next, verse two tells of a chaos which came upon this earth later. Finally, in the verses that follow, the six days unfold describing the re-formation of the earth to become the habitation of man.
We know not with certainty what caused the cataclysm which laid the earth waste and without form and void in verse two. Scripture does seem to give certain veiled implications that it had to do with a pre-Adamite rebellion. Some believe there was another human race on the planet that rebelled with Lucifer when he rebelled against God. Because 1 Corinthians 15:45 declares that Adam was the “first man,” there could be no human race prior to Adam. Nevertheless, the cataclysm seems to be identified with the fall of Lucifer and associated angelic beings. We read in Isaiah 14:12–17, Ezekiel 28:12–19, Jeremiah 4:23–27, and Revelation 12:3 and 4 of a falling away in the angelic realm.
We must emphasize that the six days in the first chapter of Genesis do not describe the original creation of Genesis 1:1. Was that first earth of Genesis 1:1 a spirit world of principalities, powers, and dominions? The word create (Heb., bara) used in 1:1 does not appear again until 1:21 and 27. Something happened after the initial creation of verse one. Verse two explains “the earth” particularly had become “without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The focus of verse one is “the heaven and the earth”; the focus of verse two is only “the earth.” The phrase “was without form” is identified with the Hebrew word tohu which is also translated in Scripture as confusion, vanity, or waste. The earth “became” chaotic, “and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” The initial creation had become deficient of its original purpose by God. The earth of Genesis 1:1 became wrapped in complete and absolute darkness (“upon the face of the deep” or “waters”). And in this darkness of waters, the Spirit of God “moved,” or brooded upon these waters. Had a judgment from God come upon this psychical or spirit earth inhabited by angels? Does this change in creation reflect the time Lucifer rebelled against God and influenced one-third of the angelic world to cast in their lot with him against the Creator?
Six Days of Creation: A Paradigm for the New Creation
Although the written account of Creation in the first chapter of Genesis is a literal, historic revelation of the creation of the universe and the earth, we also see in this account a perfect pattern of the new creation. Our new creation is wrought by God creating a soul and life anew in a spiritual new birth through the great redemption in Christ Jesus.
“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.” Oh, dear reader, this verse can also describe where God finds us spiritually after we come into the world. We are born in sin, shapen in iniquity, and alienated from God. We are in chaos, darkness, estranged from God, and among those “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph. 2:1–3). This is where we were before God spoke to us and upon us. Our lives testified of a damaged, fallen creation. Man is a deep creature, but darkness rules over the waters of his life: oh, the confusion of his life! Thank God, His Spirit in prevenient grace brooded, strove, and hovered over our unworthy lives. Even in our darkness and confusion, God’s Spirit has always been there.
This truth must be seen in our new creation, for it will necessitate God Himself to bring it about. There is absolutely nothing for man to bring about in this creation. God creates a new life in Christ for the believer. The new birth and a clean heart must be by divine creation, never by evolution from the fallen Adam. How is this so? Man’s fall brought chaos both to his life and to the purpose of God’s plan for that life. This is where God finds us after the initial creation: we are born in the pollution of sin, shapen in iniquity, with the proclivities to waste and confusion. As the ages of time unfold the depth of man’s sin nature, every generation becomes deeper and deeper in this darkness and chaos. Chaos is an emblem of the unrenewed soul, spiritual ruin, without order, without life (dead in trespasses and sins), and without light (shrouded in darkness)—yet not without God. We see the Spirit brooding over chaos, the Holy Spirit hovering over fallen souls, waiting as it were for the forthcoming and sounding of the commanding word to introduce light, order, and life.
The “First Day” of Our New Creation
This first day the command of God came: “Let there be light.” This was before the sun, moon and stars (of the fourth day). Note the great declaration of John 1:4, 5, and 9:
In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not…. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
This light is Christ in the conscience of every man (John 1:4, 9; Rom. 2:15). But God’s light must first come to us in godly sorrow to save our soul. God, in sending forth the light to the sinner, enables him to discern that he is lost and needs a Saviour. It is only by the light of truth that a sinner can discern himself, see his sinful condition and need of a Saviour. It is the Holy Spirit that must hover over all of this; Christ is the Light that must come to the natural man. We must pray that the declaration of God “Let there be light” will come to the sinner. For this begins his new creation.
The “Second Day” of Our New Creation
There is the second day or spiritual season of this new creation. This second day concerns the separation of waters below from the waters above (which are sealed in a firmament). This firmament is a fixed division in the air, ten to fifteen thousand feet above the earth, separating the waters above from those beneath. Once we become a Christian, we begin to discern the distinction between the blessings of providence on the earth with those coming from heaven.
For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven (Deut. 11:10, 11).
Unlike Egypt, Canaan consists of the rains and dews of heaven. The blessings from above are separated from the blessings from beneath. There are natural blessings, and there are spiritual blessings. We must know in creation the distinction between the two. He called the firmament heaven!
The “Third Day” of Our New Creation
On the third day of creation, God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” Like this dividing and separately gathering of waters, the third step in our new creation concerns a gathering of various aspects of man’s mental and moral nature into one character in order that the true state of the soul is made manifest. In man’s prior evil and unsaved condition, all the elements of his character were scattered and confused, without harmony, without any proper government, without any distinct self-recognition of his true state. This is typified in the prodigal son of Luke 15. In his terrible condition amidst feeding swine, he came under true conviction: “And when he came to himself.” The coming to God through Christ in the new creation is revealed in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [or creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Before we came to the Lord, we did not truly see ourselves for what we were; we had only scattered thoughts, feelings, and convictions of life and self. However, on this third-day of our new creation, this dividing of heavenly and earthly waters brings clarity to who we are, what we are, and what we want to become.
This third day of creation is also noted for the first appearance of forms of life on the earth. So, for the newly born-again Christian, this third day represents the beginnings of living forces in the conscience, the will, and the desires of the heart. God had given so many natural abilities and talents in our conception; however, the power of sin for a season had control over these many potential capacities for God.
We are not able naturally to discern and analyze all the various elements in our moral and spiritual being. Not until after we have entered into the state of regeneration and received the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit are we able to look back and notice a great many things which took place in our souls while passing through repentance and the new birth. At the moment of our conversion, we did not recognize we were passing through these conditions. There were forms of desires and affections springing up in the soul during true repentance. Some desires may have been spiritual while others were carnal. There could be movings of human feelings, affections, and sympathies along with natural intellectual longings for godly knowledge. All of these stirrings form a lower type of religious life, somewhat like the formation of vegetables and trees in the natural world. These desires can come at the time of repentance amidst the light of Christ of the Gospel. We experience life feelings, desires for Christ, and honorable sympathies: “I want to own my own Bible and to read it. I want to pray personally! I want to attend a true, Bible church!” Yes, things change, desires change, and other desires leave. These are the first signs of life to a Christian’s new creation. “I have changed! My son has changed! My daughter has changed! My wife has changed!”
Each will be unique in his new creation; each disposition and self will speak differently. Yes, when God’s Word reaches the spiritual heart and natural life of an individual, he begins to produce in his unique manner and way. This is an insight of God’s new creation in this soul. Others will witness life coming forth. Yes, he is a creature in the natural and a creature in the new creation! His highest function will be to act in accordance with his God-assigned nature and self. Each creature in this new creation must come to his own place, best suited to his nature and functions on the earth as assigned by God. To vacate that place would be to run counter to God’s ordinance and to God’s wisdom, as well as to the creature’s own nature and usefulness. In the operations of life, the sea moves, the land rests, and the fruit comes forth.
Also in Genesis 1:9 God declares, “Let the dry land appear.” From the dry land came herb yielding seed and fruit yielding trees. My father called this powerful capacity of the seed the “Divine Depositum”; some have called it the “seed of the Word” that over time brings forth fruit in a person’s heart and life. We must remember the words of 1 John: “He that is born of God.” All life-producing power comes from God for both creation and our new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). My new creation changes my feelings, desires, goals, affections, and aspirations. The converted individual needs to know this third day in his life in this new creation.
The “Fourth Day” of Our New Creation
The fourth day of our new creation draws us upward, in and above the firmament, to the distinct and specific bodies of light. Light was the first thing in creation; it came forth from God’s command to pave the way for the rest of creation. God divided the light from the darkness; this was the first of this new creation: God made a difference between His light and my darkness.
For the fourth day, there are three distinct concepts of light that are given to us. First, the sun is to rule the day. In our new creation this is Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, rising with healing in His wings (Mal. 4:2). He guides the believer through the day; the believer now is walking as a child of the day. Christ, the glory of heaven, must be the light under which I walk.
In them [the words of God] hath he set a tabernacle for the sun. Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof (Ps. 19:4b–6).
This is the Son of God, the Sun of Righteousness.
Secondly, the moon typifies the church. Note how the church is described in Revelation 12:1, 2: “clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet”; the church receives her light only from the sun. The moon is the local church that truly is an elect, remnant church. A carnal or worldly church, or a church that does not reflect the light of the Sun well will do damage to the new creation. We observed that though there was nothing to hinder God in the creation of Genesis 1, there are many things that can hinder the new creation from coming in its fullness into my life: a stubborn will, lack of light, or eclipses of the moon (where the world comes between the church and the Sun of righteousness). Additionally, one could have an eclipse of the Sun when the moon (the church) obscures our view of Christ! God ordained for the church to be the pillar and ground of the truth. Sadly, churches today no longer have the glory of the Sun, and they do not have the truth. Some Christians go for years hindered by weak churches that limit the new creation in Christ Jesus within their lives. However, God gave the moon to help in the days of darkness. A good, biblical church will help guide us in the darkness of the night season.
Thirdly, God made the stars. Note Daniel 12:3: “They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.” These stars are individual believers. These stars are godly parents, godly teachers, godly pastors, and godly fellow saints whose lives have been a great influence upon us. Thank God for the Sun; thank God for the moon; and thank God also for the stars: these three lights are important in our lives, especially in these dark and difficult days.
The “Fifth Day” of Our New Creation
Genesis 1:20–23 presents the fifth day of Creation. In the third day we found life in the earth separated from the waters. In the fourth day we were drawn back to the waters, the firmament above the earth. Sun, moon, and stars are heavenly objects to aid on earth. But the fifth day draws us back to the waters that were separated from the land on the earth. From these lower waters, God brought forth every living creature in the sea and fowls of the air.
Following the act of saving faith in Christ, the affections of the heart and the mind were filled with the effects and fruits of the new birth. We were initially drawn to the waters above and the lights above. Now, on our fifth day of the new creation, we are drawn to the waters (distinct from the land) located below. This fifth day typifies that there must come a complete change in our natural earthly affections and thoughts revealing how our new birth is communicated to all the feelings and sentiments of the soul. Our waters tend to be more unstable than our land. Likewise, all the relationships of the domestic and social life, the opinions of the mind, the thoughts and imaginations of the intellect correspond to the fowls that fly in the air. It is now my waters that also must bring forth fruit to His glory.
Though my land is filled with the vegetation of my doings and being in Christ, I must now give importance to my waters, the more fluid part of my life that tends to be unstable. This is most critical in the Christian life: this is the distinction of needing “fruit,” “more fruit,” and “much fruit” (John 15). Fruit must come forth abundantly. Yes, Christ’s new creation must be found in all of the compartments of life.
And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth (Gen. 1:21, 22).
Day three brought life to our land; day four brought heavenly lights to our new creation; and day five brought life to our water and air represented by our unstable feelings and flighty imaginations.
Across these “days” our new creation is gaining in perfection because He has entered our waters with the Word of God. Our lives were once filled with the instability of moodiness, anger, hostility, self-centeredness, and fragile timidities. As we walk on with the Sun of Righteousness, these instabilities lessen or cease in our lives; we become more productive, settled, and constant in Christ. Past instabilities now become filled with blessings of the Christ of the new creation.
Conclusion
The final Laodicean Church Age reveals that Christ is outside the church: “Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3:20). As stated in our previous article, the “image” of church success has become more important to the church than Christ Himself. Modern Christianity continues to invest energy and importance into its outward show, manner, and presentation of self. It is more and more becoming a whited sepulcher void of any true life manifested in a biblical new creation. A new creation can only come by way of a true born-again experience from God, where our lives continue to be lived in Christ: “Not I, but Christ.”
Our last article will draw from the sixth and seventh days of this new creation. May the Lord bring us End-time insight for the spiritual living of the image and likeness of God through Christ in the new creation.