Jesus in Genesis

A couple of weeks ago I asked my pastor about his plans for Advent. He said he was still working on it. When I got off the phone I asked myself, “What would I do?” My first thought was, Jesus in Genesis. I often used that theme, “Jesus in…” a particular book or section of the Old Testament but I never got around to Genesis. One of the recurring themes in my teaching was this, The Old Testament is a Jesus book, and I was always eager to point out the prophecies and types of Christ in the Old Testament.

I won’t have the opportunity to preach this Advent season so I thought I would use my blog to point to Jesus in Genesis. This is a long book and Jesus’ shadow and footprint are all over it. For this first week of Advent I will consider Genesis 1-8

1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
The Bible opens with a bang and Jesus is right in the thick of it! Right at the beginning of the Bible we find the Word, the Son of God, Christ, Jesus, who in the proper time came to the world to bring salvation. How can I say the Son of God is in verse 1 when the verse clearly says, God created?

First, the word for God is Elohim. It is a plural word. So from the very beginning of the Bible there is this idea of plurality in God. It runs throughout the Old Testament and is fully revealed in the New Testament.

Second, the Gospel according to John begins, In the beginning was the Word… John’s “in the beginning” is the same as Genesis and explains this plurality: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. Amen!

This first chapter describes God’s creative activity. Ten times we read, And God said. Hebrews 11:3 tells us, Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Framed by Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:15-17). Our Savior is the Creator of the world!

1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Who is this “us”? Some people say he is speaking to angels; others say it is the plural of majesty, a royal we. No. It is the Father speaking to the Son. "It was not angels, therefore, who made us, nor who formed us, neither had angels power to make an image of God, nor any one else, except the Word of the Lord, nor any Power remotely distant from the Father of all things. For God did not stand in need of these [beings], in order to the accomplishing of what He had Himself determined with Himself beforehand should be done…. For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, "Let Us make man after Our image and likeness” Irenaeus

And concerning this “image” Irenaeus said . . . “For in times long past, it was said that man was created after the image of God, but it was not [actually] shown; for the Word was as yet invisible, after whose image man was created... When, however, the Word of God became flesh, He showed forth the image truly, since He became Himself what was His image…”

There are two other “us” passages in Genesis: 3:22, 11:7 These are also references of the Father speaking with the Son.

3:8  And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Isn’t this a beautiful description, they heard the voice of the Lord God walking? This is clearly the Word, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ (called Christophany). Why is it clear that this is the Son? In John 1:18 we are told, No man hath seen God at any time. Yet the Old Testament has many accounts of people seeing God. How can we explain this? No man has ever seen the Father, all such appearances have been the Son, Christ, Jesus. Despite the beauty of the word picture, this is a sad verse: Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God. Say what you will about the pleasures of sin, the effect of sin is you hide yourself from the presence of the Lord, who is light and life. We need redemption. We need a Savior.

3:15  And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
Amen. This is known as the Protevangelium, the first gospel or promise of redemption. As soon as they were discovered in sin, God promised a Savior, who would destroy our adversary and restore the presence of the Lord.

Chapters 6-8 The Flood. This foreshadowed salvation through Christ: by entering the ark we are saved from the judgment of God, and when we pass through the waters (of baptism) we begin a new life (1 Peter 3:21)

Next week I plan to trace the promise of a Savior through Genesis.