A New Creation

January 10th, 2020

“…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.” (Gen. 1:2 - KJV)

The condition of the earth as we see it in Genesis 1:2 is a perfect picture of the child of God before Salvation. Scholars debate whether or not God originally created the earth “without form and void,” or if it became that way through some great cataclysmic event such as the fall of Lucifer with God then bringing the earth back into a habitable state, and creating man to rule it. In truth there are things that we do not know about eternity past when God created the worlds by His spoken word (Deut. 29:29; Heb. 1:2).

One thing we know for sure is that when God created man he was perfect; created in righteousness and true holiness (Gen. 1:26; Eph. 4:24). Yet, due to mans disobedience to the divine command of God – “of the tree of the knowledge of Good and evil, thou shalt not eat…” (Gen. 2:17 KJV). Man fell with sin and death affecting not only him, but all of his descendants as the Scripture says, “For by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Rom. 5:12 KJV).

The Hebrew construction for the phrase “without form and void” is “tohu va bohu.” The first word “tohu” tells us that the earth was without form or shape. In the same way, because of sin each of us was like a piece of shapeless clay that is dug out of the ground. It had no purpose or beauty, but the hand of the Divine potter reached down one day, picked us up, put us on His wheel, and began to mold us into His image! Paul said, “We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus….” (Eph. 2:10 KJV) The second word of the phrase mentioned is “bohu,” and means as translated “void,” or “empty.” This is a picture of humanity without Jesus Christ, it is empty. There is no Divine life because there is no light! Unregenerate man is spiritually blind, which means that he operates in darkness with an understanding that is void of truth, and is as a result “alienated from the Life of God” (Eph. 2:18).

Possible you feel that you are in this very position right now, your life is just not taking shape, your heart is empty, and you cannot seem to fill the void that is there, and as darkness covered the primordial deep, so you too feel that darkness has covered your life. If that is the case then I have Good news for you! The Spirit of God is moving, and as He did not leave the earth in the condition of verse two, neither will he leave you in the condition you are in!! The one who commanded the Light to shine out of darkness, and makes all things new is able to do the same for you!! - “if any man be in Christ, He is a New Creation: Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17 KJV).

I heard the story sometime back of a man who wanted to sell an old warehouse. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Gangs had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and spray painted the outside. One day as the man showed the prospective buyer the property, the man took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and repaint the outside of the building. The prospect said to the man “Forget about the repairs, when I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely new. I don’t want the building; I want the site!

Compared with what God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse that is slated for the wrecking ball! You see there is not one of us that can improve, or transform ourselves, but it can only be done through our Faith in “Christ, and Him Crucified” (1 Cor. 1:18; 2:2). This is the Faith that God demands, and the type of Faith that will cause the Holy Spirit to form us, fill us, and dispel the darkness in our lives even as God did in the beginning!

God’s Luv & Best to you! In Christ – Clint