Genesis

GENESIS This book is about the end and is written in a suggestive and intuitive manner rather than a purely deductive and narrative style. I hope it will lead to a greater interest in the scriptures and solutions found therein. I encourage others to take up my line of thinking and improve on it. Though about the end it begins at the beginning for the mistakes made and options taken at the beginning have inevitably led to the events, which will occur at the end. The view taken is of a gradual evolutionary process of the world divided into seven phases known symbolically as days in the book of Genesis.

Genesis 1 v1-3:In the beginning when God created the universe the earth was formless and desolate, the raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the power of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded, “Let there be light”, and light appeared.

Here the raging ocean is the great vastness of emptiness. All, of the physical world was void except the heavens and the Lord for nothing had been created. The light is then that Divine essence that allowed the evolutionary process to begin leading to the cosmos and life on earth. This light is very different from the sunlight that appears on the fourth day, and may be more in tune with the dispensation of wisdom. Similarly the day here is also very different from the twenty, four hour, circle that came with the sun and the moon on the fourth day of creation. This is not an earthly day but a heavenly day.

Genesis 1 v6-8: Then God commanded “Let there be a dome to divide the water and to keep it in two separate places”, and it was done .So God made a dome and it separated the water under it from the water above it. He named the dome sky evening passed and morning came that was the second day. Genesis 1 v9-13: Then God commanded “Let the water below the sky come together in one place so that land will appear”, and it was done. The land was named earth and the water that had come together was named sea. Then he commanded “Let the earth produce all kinds of plants, those that bear fruit and those that bear grain”, and it was done. Evening passed and morning came that was the third day. 

In the third phase of evolution water and land began to form in the hemisphere that had been created from the void and with the water and land came the plants. The earth was then getting ready to welcome animal life, which could not live without plant and water resources. It appears that plants do not need sunlight to germinate so long as water and good soil is present.

Genesis 1 v14-19: Then God commanded, “Let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin; they will shine in the sky to give light to the earth”, and it was done. So God made two larger lights the sun to rule over the day and the moon to rule over the night. He also made the stars. He placed the lights in the sky to shine on earth and to separate light from darkness. Evening passed and morning came and that was the fourth day. 

In the fourth phase of the evolutionary process the cosmos and galaxies were also created from the void but separated from the earth with the sun and moon being the largest in relation to the earth. These, galaxies also gave light to the earth and the revolving day as we know it came to existence. The fourth day or phase of creation then led to the first earthly day. The light here is also more in tune with how that word is normally interpreted. Genesis here is in with keeping Ecclesiasates 12v13-14 that states that man was made to honour God through worship and obedience. Unfortunately this is not the world we have today as most people worship after Caesar, fame, wealth or pleasure. There may be a deeper meaning here as well; just as the physical light was to give direction to man on the physical plane, the religious festivals were supposed to give light to man on the spiritual plane. To live without the spiritual is to leave in darkness as can deduced from John 12.

Genesis 1 v20-23: Then God commanded, “Let the water be filled with many kinds of living beings, and the air be filled with birds”. So God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of creatures that live in the water, and all kinds of birds. ---Evening passed morning came that was the fifth day.

With the creation of the earth and the solar system, the earth was then ripe for life, and the first life to appear was that of the fish and the birds, indicating perhaps that the heat from the sun was essential for animate life.

Genesis 1 v24: Then God commanded, “let the earth produce all kinds of animal life domestic and wild, large and small “and it was done.

Next in the evolutionary process came the initial animals some of which are now extinct as the road towards modern man progressed. This next step in the evolutionary process also gave leeway to the nay Sayers who have interpreted it to mean various things. That is mainly because of equating the earthly day with the heavenly day and the lack of the proper study or understanding of scripture. However this writer may agree with them that the earth certainly appears to be more than the 6000 years of Adam and his descendants, which we will cover shortly.

Genesis 1 v26-27: Then God said,”And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild large and small.”----Evening passed morning came that was the sixth day. 

As evolution progressed animate life became more progressive and some of the unsuitable species or those species that had already served their purpose became extinct. Out of this evolution came an animate form suitable enough to reflect or understand the Divine essence. This was man who was then blessed with the Divine essence of the spirit or soul and put in charge of the earth.

Genesis 2 v1-3: And so the whole universe was completed. By the seventh day God finished what he had been doing and stopped working. He blessed the seventh day and set it apart as a special day.

With the creation of man the earth was then able to reflect the Divine nature. Man was then put in charge of the earth and its physical destiny. . The purpose for which creation had began was finally achieved with the coming of man. He was then blessed with a Divine nature and put in charge of the world. Man is then divinity in earthly form. Unfortunately with the fall of Adam from grace, Christ had to come to initiate this process again at the spiritual level. The seven days of creation appear to resemble the path of Christ’s ministry,from birth and baptism as written in John 1.

The cruxifixion of the body as the third day, the work of the apostles in spreading the Word and the coming of the holy spirit, as the fourth day or phase. The global order and empires that follow them as explained in Daniel 2 and 7 as the fifth day. The sixth day would be the coming of the independent nations, some of whom may be practising the Word, leading to an evolutionary process as the Word spreads to every race and nation, and the coming reign of the saints.

And the seventh is the thousand year reign of Christ as written in Revelations 20 and probably also the eternal life that follows the final judgement. The coming of Christ then was to fulfill the original purpose of Man from which Adam had fallen. Disobedience led to death and the ceding of earthly power to those spiritual forces not entlitled to it. The blood of Christ was then to right this matter and to bring back the original purpose by freeing people from the power of sin. I believe Paul in Romans 5, Galatians 4 and Ephesians 6 together with Luke 20 and the parable of the vineyard are trying to shed light on this matter.

Genesis 2 v7: Then the lord took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed into his nostrils and man began to live.

Genesis 2, which mainly refers to Adam is normally taken as a further elaboration of Genesis 1, but it may be a renewal or new beginning for mankind as happened with Abraham, Noah and Christ after the original men had fallen from grace. Adam was then a man without, sin recreated for a specific earthly purpose. Such further renewal is also envisioned in Rev 21. This may be what the parable of the tenants in the vineyard may be pointing to in Luke 20. Other men may have been sent to right the world but the spiritual forces were too strong for them and it had to take the personal intervention of God’s son to defeat them. This relates to what is noted in John 1 about the the lamb of God and the famous John 3v16 about the giving of the only begotten son to save the world. Genesis 2v9...In the middle of the garden stood the tree that gives life and the tree that gives the knowledge of what is good and what is bad.

Genesis 2v16-17:He said to him,” you may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day”.

For Adam the death of innocence came before the death of the body. His disobedience meant that he could not feel comfortable in the presence of his creator and absence from his creator ensured his death. From what happens in the succeeding verses, we can conclude that disobedience to God’s will is disconcerting, weighs on the conscience and ultimately leads to death. It is futile and unnatural for a creation to go against its creator and all moves geared towards what is against sound scriptural tenets can be expected to have similar consequences.

Genesis 3v1-7:Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the lord had made. The snake asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden? “We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden except the tree in the middle of it; if we do we will die. “The snake replied “That’s not true you will not die, God said that because he knows that when you eat it you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad.........So she took some of the fruit and ate it and gave some to her husband, and he also ate it. As soon as they ate it they realised that they were naked. 

The verses here tell how man came to lose his inheritance to the spiritual forces mentioned in Galatians 4 and Ephesians 6 and other places in the scriptures. The strength of man as Moses kept on repeating to the Israelites in his books particularly in Deutoronomy and Leviticus comes from obeying God. This is also the theme of the new testament as 1 John 5 notes that only those who acknowledge that Christ was the son of God can defeat the world.

The Israelites tended to be strong when they had spiritual leaders and to falter under irreligious ones. Similarly the fact that we have the Pope seating on the throne that belonged to Caesar(earthly power)shows the strength of Christ over the powers of the earth. This may be the true meaning of John 12 when Christ states that when he is lifted up from the ground he would draw everybody to himself.

There appeals to be three major powers operating in the world: The power of Christ-the most powerful and peaceful for those who believe. Earthly power, the power of Caesar and his controlling forces and the power of death as depicted in Exodus 12 and the historical records of Attilla the Hun and Genghis Khan. One may observe that those who are not spiritual come under the power of the world or spiritual forces.

The powers of the world degenerate as shown to Abraham in Genesis 15 or the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Bible or the historical record of Rome. This is then followed by the power of death as happened in Exodus 12 and in the history of Rome followed by the Huns and the Mongols. The same is happening today as formerly spiritual societies give up the faith because of relative affluence, comparative freedom and unrestrained desire, the power of death is beginning to manifest itself again currently in the form terrorism and probably in other forms as well later on.

States are gradually beginning to usurp the freedom of the people in the guise of public order and security. These two factors are well documented in Daniel and Revelations of which we will cover later. In fact the lamb in Exodus 12 and the cross therein(the blood on the beams of the houses and the sides) may have been pointing to Christ and his cross and the Hebrew houses to his church/body as explained in Ephesians 1. The princely order of Melchizedek -Genesis 14, Luke 22, Psalms 110- of which Christ belonged, preceeded and succeeded that of Aaron, and the first passover was probably a mirror of the second passover which was fulfilled with Christ that not only saved the body from death but also the soul.

The first Passover saved and rescued the Israelites from a certain location, whereas the second is universal and timeless. The first passover forgave the Israelites of their sins but those of the Egyptians who had not offered the sacrifice were not forgiven leading to their defeat. The second Passover would have freed the Israelites from an even more powerful colonizer in Rome had it been accepted, as those who accepted it were able to supplant the Caesar in both the two capitals of Rome and Constantinople. This is what Christ was probably implying in Luke 19.

This second Passover is precisely what Daniel 9 was prophesying and what happened in John 18 and 19 and subsequent events involving Nero, Vespasian and Titus between 66 and 73 AD of which there is evidence both in Jerusalem and Rome. This may also be the reason why the return to Israel has gone according to Jeremiah 3 without the need for another covenant box or temple as sin was eternally forgiven.

The blood of Christ continues to inspire freedom, to the present day and has given courage to diverse cultures all over the world to free themselves from the yoke of tyranny as happened in America under Martin Luther King, in Philippines during the time of Marcos, in South Africa, Poland and other places where people have suffered injustice. Something else that can be understood from the verses here, which is universal, is when in doubt go with God.

When in doubt follow the scriptures. History has constantly affirmed this. Man is constantly coming up with new systems, be they communism, fascism, secularism, hedonism but the only teachings that have stood the test of time for the last two millenniums and more and which have proved as useful, to all these successive generations, continue to grow and are able to move easily between different races and nationalities are the scriptures and the gospel.

This clearly fits what the prophet Zechariah spoke about in the 9th chapter as no one has had a more universal appear and has stood the text of time as well as Christ has. In John 17 we learn that the word of God is the ultimate truth and in John 1 that the world was made by the word. Some of these aspects we will cover here.

For most men the word of God is normally scripture as few are anointed with prophecy. Scripture should then be the anchor or lighthouse of our earthly journey and anything that goes contrary to it is unlikely to give the ultimate result that we seek.

Genesis 3 v14-15: Then the lord God said to the snake, “You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live. I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite their heel.


I wonder if a microcosm of this conflict could be the conflict between Israel as a spiritual state and the church on one hand and worldly empires on the other.

Conflict here would also include the world’s corrupting influence on spiritual institution that has been going on since the time of Moses. Could this also be a perpetual struggle between Cain and Abel? With those who do what is pleasing to God having inner peace while the unrighteous continue to struggle? The situation here is very different from the situation before Adam fell from grace.

The world was made for man to live at ease in communion with his creator. When man fell and the world came into the hands of those for whom it was never intended the dynamics changed and it became to a significant extent how it is today, though the grace of Christ has mitigated some of the early extremes to a significant degree. Mark 12 and Luke 20 when they talk about giving unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s may be alluding to this struggle of worldly wealth and spiritual wealth both with their own systems.

Genesis 3v22-24:Then the lord said, “Now that man has become like one of us and has knowledge of what is good and bad. He must not be allowed to take fruit from the tree that gives life and live forever. “So the lord sent him out of the Garden of Eden and made him cultivate the soil from which he had been formed. Then at the east side of the garden he put living creatures and a flaming sword, which turned in all directions. This was to keep anyone from coming near the tree of life.

What we find here if we are to refer back to Genesis 2v16-17 and 3v1-7 is the contrast between knowledge and faith. Faith comes from the unknown and the unseen and ultimate trust in God. Knowledge is accumulated data and practice, i.e. what is known or learned. The Gospels are about the power of faith not knowledge, knowledge is useful, and work is noble but both come a poor second to faith. Paul, one of the more learned of the Apostles, gave up his knowledge and took up the faith and went on to become the most prolific writer in the New Testament. In Ephesians 3 he elaborates on the infinite things that faith can achieve.

Peter through faith initiated or succeeded to a priesthood that has lasted over 2 millenniums and continues to grow in number and coverage. We may accomplish some through knowledge and sweat but we can accomplish more through faith. The way to a successful life is not attending prestigious institutions but adherence to scripture and simple prayer. This will help us achieve what the world’s most successful individuals-the Apostles- achieved and grant us enduring legacies.

With faith the Apostles were able to establish a church that has outlived all empires and one that will outlive all nations with the possible exception of Israel-We will go into the prophetic aspects of this in Daniel and Revelations. Through the faith of David his dynasty was able to outlive not only the succession of rulers of the northern kingdom but the kingdom itself.

It is remarkable how the kingdom of Judah endured so long under King David’s lineage when one takes into consideration what was going on in the northern kingdom of Israel. The Israelites in Numbers 14, Psalms 95 and Deuteronomy spent 40 years in the desert due to their lack of faith. Only those who had faith such as Joshua and Caleb were able to see the promise fulfilled. Christ also overcame temptation in Matthew and Luke 4 through faith.

What I find so remarkable about these two chapters is that in rebuking the tempter no ideological discourse was necessary or called for, all that was needed was quotation from scripture. If the scriptures were a sufficient anchor for the Son of God through whom all was created and who is a fountain of all knowledge, then they should be more than sufficient for mortal man. I believe the primary purpose of having these chapters in the gospels was to highlight this truth.

 These are examples of simple faith at its best and far exceed the option of rationalization that Adam settled for to his detriment in the verses that we have covered. The notion that man can somehow go his own way and chart his own course is fallacious. Either he is under his creator’s protection or he falls under the influence of other forces with nothing to offer.

The reign of injustice, death, bigotry or want. In my opinion the time that will pass before the eternal Jerusalem begins again could well be sixty centuries or six millenniums symbolised by the sixty, meter wall in Rev 21 of the New Jerusalem, which man will have to scale. That time frame which has now arrived may be calculated as follows:

Years Reference Adam to Noah’s Ark 1556 Genesis 5. Noah to Abraham 390 Genesis 5,11. Abraham to Egypt 290 Genesis 21, 25,47. Egypt to the Exodus 430 Exodus 12. Exodus to Solomon and the temple 480 1st Kings 6. Solomon to Zedekiah and exile in Babylonia 432 1st and 2nd Kings. Zedekiah to Darius the Mede 70 Daniel 9 & ZECH 1. Darius to the death of Christ 483 Daniel 9.(@33 A.D) 33 A.D to year 6000 1869 Historical Record Total 6000.

So the story of Adam may be the story of one of those early men who had a specific purpose for all later men as the direct ancestor of Israel and the saviour of the world, our lord Jesus Christ. Daniel 9 and Zechariah 1 narrate visions that were revealed at the beginning of the reign of Darius the Mede. The book of Zechariah informs us that this was seventy years after the fall of Jerusalem.

The sixtieth century may then have began at the beginning of the last century, that is the year 33 A.D plus 1869 years which gives the year 1899. That is the approximate date of the death of Christ plus the number of years to the sixth millennium, which gives the estimated year of 1899 A.D as the end of the sixtieth century, and the sixth millennium after Adam.

 Christ began his ministry in the 15th year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus about 14 A.D, when he was about 30 years as recorded in the book of Luke. The book of John narrates his presence in three Passover festivals before his death, giving the estimated time of death at the latest to be A.D 33. Man has now scaled the wall of sixty centuries following our estimates and is now ready for the eternal kingdom.

The twentieth century, the sixty-first since Adam, brought about great strides in science, knowledge, and the integration of peoples. The full significance of the century will be put into perspective later. This century has been very enlightening to the world as a whole, and technological and social changes initiated in it will probably have dynamic and far, reaching effects on future societies.

This could also play a significant role in the second coming of Christ and the new beginning as narrated in Daniel 12 and Revelations 20. Christ the infinite provider always appears in times of plenty as even the prophesy of his first coming in Isaiah 7 may attest to. In fact the modern day Romans were not able to replicate the living standards of ancient Rome until well into the 19th century.

It would be naïve to attribute the changes taking place in India and China today where the poverty that had chained some many generations is being overcome in barely a quarter of a century, to good policies. I believe it is deeper than that. Even though the faith may not have been taken up in practice, it was taken up through learning and culture enabling societies that had been tied up by tradition to overcome through learning.

This is the immediate outcome but there should be an even more significant outcome in future. It is unlikely that the Divine purpose for the new oriental and global wealth is self-aggrandisement. It could then be that some of the people born in the twentieth century, and those that will succeed them have witnessed the beginning of the creation of the kingdom of Christ in their lifetimes.

Subsequent chapters in Daniel and Revelations together with reference to some of the other biblical prophets will explain how this could come to pass, and the time span of these changes that will herald the second coming and the reign of Christ. It may also be noted that the nation of Israel returned to their homeland and Jerusalem right in the middle of the 20th century, or according to our calculations, sixty centuries after Adam.

The return of Israel, the troubles at the end and eternal life we will learn, appear to happen concurrently. This nation may then, beginning with the twentieth century be able to hold on to its ancestral land with the Lord’s protection for the eternity to come as part of the new Jerusalem. More of this in collaboration with Ezekiel and Zechariah will be discussed in Revelations.