Now, if you'll turn with me to
Genesis chapter 1, there's so much in these first
few verses. They cover so much span of time. And they cover such a large subject matter in just a matter
of two or three verses. And it's kind of like a message
that you begin to preach. Henry told us one time that the
old colored preacher said, when he preached, he said, I tells
them what I'm going to tell them, and then I tells them, and then
I tells them what I done told them. And so that's what's going
on here in chapter 1 of this book of Genesis. He's about to
make a declaration in these first few verses of everything that
He intends to do. And by chapter 3, He's already
progressed in and began to give promises of the Messiah. But
He pictures these things in the whole in these first several
verses. And I'm going to show you here after a while how that
gospel preachers in the New Testament reached back and got a hold of
Genesis chapter 1 and Genesis chapter 2 as a complete and total
picture of what they preached in these few verses. But before
we get into our study tonight, I want to remind myself and remind
you to whom God has given an interest in these things of God,
that it's absolutely necessary to a right understanding of everything
in this book that we understand what this book is all about.
And he declares that over in Revelations chapter 5. I've often
quoted that to you, and some of you have turned over there
and read through that. But in Revelations chapter 5
and chapter 6, he talks about this revelation of Christ. That's
what the book of Revelation is all about. It's that revelation
of Christ. from the beginning of time until
the end of time. That revelation of Christ and
what the believer sees in that revelation. God revealed him
to be the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. God
revealed him to be the Lamb by promise and by type. And by picture, through the priesthood
and through the law, God revealed him to be in the fullness of
time to come and to manifest what was promised in eternity
and what was declared in eternity. To manifest it, to achieve it,
to ascend into glory where he sits. expecting until his enemies
be made his footstool. That book of Revelations is all
about this. And the book, it says in chapter
5, he saw one sitting upon a throne with a book, and it was sealed
with seven seals. These seals are the absolute
perfections of God. This is talking about His character,
His name. And a book, if you think about
it, a book Books are written to communicate. Books are written
to pass on knowledge. Books are written to establish
laws. Books are written to reveal things. And in his hand was a book. But
nobody could take the book. Nobody could open the book. And
no man was worthy to even look upon the book. Because nobody
could open the book in harmony with those seals. You see what
I'm saying? God's going to make some things
known. But in order to know these things, these things have to
be manifest according to His divine perfections. And if they're
not, He's not going to let you look in a book. He's not going
to let you look in the book. And John wept because he wasn't
worthy, and the elders weren't worthy, and the beast wasn't
worthy, whoever they were, and all the angels weren't worthy,
and nobody in heaven, earth, or hell was worthy to take this
book, let alone look on it, and open those seals. But one was
found worthy. He was the Lamb. In the midst
of the throne, right in the midst of the elders, in the midst of
the throne, in the midst of authority, in the midst of the perfections
of God was a lamb as it had been slain. He took the book. Only a slain lamb from the midst
of the throne can unveil the glory that God is going to manifest
in this book. A lamb slain. A lamb appointed. Whatever God does or says is
in perfect harmony with His nature and character. In fact, His character
is what constitutes His Godhead. That's what I was just talking
to Winston before the service here tonight. If you take away
the immutability of God, you've dethroned God. Because God is
unchangeable. God is immutable. If whatever
you believe and whatever you profess has to do with changing your
God, then your God is not the living God. God changes not. He said, I am the same yesterday,
today, and forever. I have never changed. Every good
gift, every perfect gift, cometh down from the Father of lights,
with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. God
cannot change. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed." God is unchangeable
and God is holy. God is just. God is righteous. God is merciful. And all of those
things to their ultimate perfection. And so to have a right understanding
of creation, you have to look at creation through those eyes. Through those eyes, through those
eyes of perfection, through those eyes of God's glory, through
His name, that's His name. All through the Bible you keep,
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord. That's what
He's talking about. He's talking about those absolute perfections. If you can get in harmony with
that name and call on Him, He'll save you. He'll hear you. He'll hear you. A lamb, it takes a lamb. But
one who sits in the midst of the throne, it takes a sovereign
lamb. It takes a holy lamb. It takes a lamb without blemish
and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world. An eternal substitute, a representative
man, one who can take the book and open all the seals and manifest
the glory of God. And then in Revelation 6, it
opens with a declaration of a man sitting on a white horse, going
forth to conquer on this white horse. Conquering and to conquer,
it says. Well, what in the world is he
talking about? He's talking about this lamb. this righteous, holy
Lamb, this sacrifice that God has appointed, riding on the
holy will of God to establish a kingdom. That's what he's talking
about. They went into Canaan, the picture, and he conquered,
didn't he? He went in there and conquered. And he set up a kingdom. And
he put his king on the throne and he ruled in peace. That's
the picture. And that's the picture set forth
here in Revelation chapter 6. This is God's mediatorial king. And that's what we're talking
about. There was a beginning before the beginning. That was
my first message here in Genesis chapter 1. And the beginning
before the beginning is the appointment of this mediator king. And everything
he does He's going to do to manifest the glory of God and the glory
of His name and the purpose of God. And the purpose of God is
to glorify His name through the redemption of a people. Through
the redemption of a people. And so why I'm telling you these
things is for this reason. If you try to view creation apart
from redemption, You've got all kinds of problems. That's what
the Armenians do. They view creation apart from
redemption. And so then creation, having
created in the name of God and the perfections of God, Satan
comes along and defeats those things and changes those things,
and then God has to come up with another plan. And so he comes
up with this other plan and he does all he can do and now it's
all up to you. That comes from a bad view of
this book from the get-go. God created, I don't want to
shock you, but God created this world to be corrupted. Is that too hard? He created
this world and made it subject to vanity. That's what it says
over in Romans chapter 8 verse 20. Creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly. They had nothing to do with it.
They were the created ones. But according to Him who subjected
the same in hope, He put them on a conditional footing. Because
the footing was designed, this whole thing is a stage on which
God is going to manifest His glory. And the way He is going
to manifest His glory is through redemption. And you can't redeem
something until it's lost. And it's within the sovereign
purpose and immutability of God that He created this world and
put it on a conditional footing. And here this man is, Adam. Sets
him up here and gives him his commandment. Only one commandment.
That's all he had to do. Just keep this one commandment.
He couldn't do that. Perfect man. Perfect environment,
perfect everything. He couldn't handle a job. Couldn't
handle a job. And he failed. He failed. Listen to this in Psalm chapter
2. He said, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine
a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves,
and their rulers take counsel together against the Lord and
against His anointed. saying, Let us break their bands
asunder. Let us cast off their cords from
us. He that sitteth in the heavens
will have them in derision. He'll laugh. He'll laugh. Then shall he speak unto them
in his wrath and beat them in his sore displeasure. Yet have
I set my king upon my holy hill in Zion. I will declare the decree,
the Lord has said unto me, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee." Now he's not talking about that day in Bethlehem when that
boy was born. That's not what he's talking
about here in this verse. He's talking about the first
begotten of every creature. He's talking about the firstborn
of all creation. He's talking about the establishing
of that mediatorial king and he set him on his heel. Zion
being the church. Set Him on the hill. Zion in
Him. And everything and everybody
is going to be dependent on that King and His Kingdom. Everything
that comes to pass in time is going to come to pass because
of that King and that decree. This is God's only begotten Son. And He's the firstborn of every
creature. He's before all things, and by
Him all things consist. Listen to this over in Colossians
chapter 1. I've just been wearing this chapter
out with you, and I know it, but we need to look at it over
and over and over. You can't look at it too much.
But there in verse 15, He said He's the firstborn. He's talking
about our Savior. He's talking about the one that
translated us from that kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of His dear Son. He's talking about His power
and authority, His faithfulness, His mercy, the purpose of God
in Him. He's trying to establish to us
the magnificence of His name, the majesty of His name. He's
not poor little Jesus boy like we here preach today. This is
the one in whom God has purpose to bring about everything from
eternity to eternity. Everything. It pleased the Father
that in Him should all fullness dwell. And so Paul begins to
declare all these things to them. He said, He's the firstborn of
every creature, verse 15. By Him were all things created
that are in heaven and are in earth, visible, invisible, thrones,
dominions, principalities, powers, all things created by Him and
for Him. And He is before all things,
and by Him all things consist. This is God's mediatorial King. And he rides upon the will of
God. In Hebrews 10, verse 7, he said,
Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book which is written
of me to do thy will, O God. First and last. Rides that white
horse of God's sovereign will and goes forth to conquer and
establish the kingdom. And then again, following Paul's
declaration of Christ as the firstborn of every creature,
he sounds this clear note down in verse 18. Having established
all that, he says this, he's the head of the body. Who is? Him that created the body. He
in whom the body was put. He about which the volume of
the book is written. He is the head of the body, the
church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.
And His purpose is to establish this kingdom. And creation is
the stage upon all which this glory shall be displayed. I would
like to have you to look at three things tonight. And the first
of these is how these things come to pass. How are these things
going to come to pass? They're going to come to pass,
it says, and God said. That's how they're going to come
to pass. We're all worried about what
men say. That fellow, my next door neighbor, I was telling
Winston, he questioned me about what I preach and so on and so
forth. It's just been driving him bonkers ever since I moved
in. And so I had a little chance to talk to him for a few minutes.
He was worried about what I was going to say. Here's what to
worry about, and God said. There's you something to worry
about. What did God say? God said. God said. What I find in here, were that
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. So this Mediator King, this God-man,
is as much God as if He were not man, and as much man as if
He were not God. And He was always the God-man. Now, I know there was a time
when He took to Himself the flesh of a man and was born of a woman.
I know that. But in the mind and purpose and
counsel of God, He was the God-man from all eternity. God is eternal. God doesn't do things in time.
If God counsels to do a thing, it's done. In His eyes, it's
done. Who's going to thwart His will? Who's going to challenge
Him? Who's going to change Him? And so He appoints this Mediator
King who is both God and man. And He establishes His Godhood
through creation. Without Him was not anything
made that was made. Ain't that what it says? I've
already read it to you in Colossians chapter 1. Everything that is,
principalities, powers, things visible, invisible, thrones,
dominions, I don't care what it is, all made by His command,
through His voice, through this Mediator King. And he establishes
by that, Winston, his Godhead. He's God. This mediator is not
a mediator like David or Moses. He took not on him the nature
of angels. He's not like an angel. He's
God. And if he commands a thing, a
thing comes to pass. It comes to pass. The voice of
God. And then secondly, I want to
talk to you a little bit about what he commands. And then if
we had time, the results of what he speaks. All right, let's talk
about this for a little bit, this voice and God said. And
there's a lot of places we could go with this. It pleased God
through the foolishness of preaching. It's always pleased God to use
this thing of communication by voice. I don't know why that
is. Because He's God and that's the way He purposed it to be.
That's pretty much what it says, isn't it, over there in 1 Corinthians
1? It pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. How shall you hear without
a preacher? Please God. And so He's going
to bring about this creation of all things, this stage on
which He's going to manifest this redemption and manifest
this preaching and manifest this salvation, and He's going to
bring it about the same way. He speaks. He speaks. God speaks. And I tell you, we could just
go on and on and on with that. What if God didn't speak? There
was 400 years, they tell me, between the Old Testament and
the New, and in my Bible, it calls that the 400 silent years. God didn't have anything to say. Think about that. Where would
you be, John, if God didn't speak? Huh? Where would you be? Where would you be? The voice
of religion didn't change anything, did it? The voice of your parents didn't
change anything. The voice of the preacher didn't
change anything. What changed? The voice of God. That's what brings about the
change. That's what brings things to be, the voice of God. It's
the voice of God. Only God can command and the
winds and the waves obey His voice. He stood up in that boat
and He said, Peace be still. Man, that sea was a perfect calm.
It was a storm a few minutes before. They feared for their
life. Perfect calm. What did He do? He just spoke. He just spoke. Peace be still. He was still.
The psalmist said, He commanded and it was done. It was finished. Think about that. We want things
to come about through evolution, don't we? I don't know how many
of these old... Something happens when a man
goes to seminary. He goes brain dead or something.
But they go in there and they come out of there and they start
twisting the book of Genesis around somehow to include I've
never heard such nonsense in all my life. He spoke and it
was done. It was done. But I'll tell you
this, it goes past that. Turn with me real quick over
to Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 11. If I'm repetitious in some of
these scriptures, I apologize, but I can't remember from week
to week what I quote and what I don't quote. But on this subject
that I'm on, I want you to see this in verse 3. He says, "...through
faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word
of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things
which do appear. Now that's what we understand.
That's what faith comprehends. I don't know what man comes up
with, but that's what faith comprehends. Faith believes God, and God's
Word declares that He created by His voice out of nothing. And it was there. It was there. Only God can command,
and the elements obey Him. And I keep reminding both you
and myself that this is the voice of Christ. This is the voice
of the Mediator King. And this is something we need
to learn because I don't know what it is. I guess
it's my religious upbringing. But in my mind, I'll be thinking
all along about voices and dreams like he spoke to his prophets
and voices just all kinds of different things
that I've heard and read from my childhood, and I think about
these things. But I want you to think from
now on, and I'll just keep trying to hammer it home, both for myself
and for you. The voice of God is a person. God has spoken unto us in these
last days, and if you look at that thing in the Scripture,
it's in italics there in Hebrews chapter 1, where it says, They
don't say that. It says, by, or it says, spoken
unto us, let me read it to you. I'm going to misquote it. Hebrews chapter 1. Verse 2, Hath in these last days
spoken unto us by, see that word his? It's in italics. What that means when it's in
italics is The people who wrote the Bible added that to the original
to make it read smooth. That's what that means. And so
you can lift it out without doing any damage whatsoever to the
verse. So read it this way. Hath in
these last days spoken unto us by sun. You see what I'm saying? That's the language of God. It's
sun language. That's how He speaks. That's
how he speaks. He speaks in Christ. Russell,
you can learn everything there is to learn about prophecies
and history and genealogies and all these things and not know
nothing. Everything worth knowing about
God, you learn in Christ. God has made Him to be unto us
wisdom. Number one. Wisdom. Would you
understand creation? Understand it in Christ. Would
you understand the fall of man? Understand it in Christ. Would
you understand election? Understand it in Christ. You
see what I'm saying? Because this is the language
of which God speaks to His people in Christ. In Christ. God, man
of spoke. He alone speaks for God. Everything
that comes to pass in time must come to pass by His authority.
Because it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness
dwell. And He's not a son or some son
or even a special son. He's God over all, Paul said,
blessed forever. That's what He is. All them Jews
hated that. They were looking for another
David. They were just looking for this guy just like our generation
looks for that man of sin. They're still looking for an
individual who's going to pop up here one of these days and,
man, he's going to be incarnate evil. And he's been around there
ever since the beginning. He's been around the whole time.
He's in religion. He's the Antichrist. He's the
Antichrist. And so they looked for the Redeemer,
and they looked for Him, and they looked for Him in a man,
which He did come as a man, but He was the God-man. And they
were looking for one like David to come in and establish earthly
kingdoms and all this. And all the while, all the while,
this thing is a spiritual kingdom. All the while, God is manifesting
His name. All the while, he's doing all
these things in creation, doing all these things in promise of
this Messiah that would come. God speaks through him. Everything
in time, every prophecy ever to him give all the prophets
witness. John said in his, I think it's
in II John, about midway through 2 John,
he warns about many deceivers. He said, many deceivers are entered
into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come into
the flesh. Confess not that God has appeared
on this earth in the person of Jesus Christ. That's what he's
talking about. They abide not. They abide not
in the doctrine of Christ. And they don't confess the purpose
of God in His condescension as a man. They see no purpose in
that. They do not confess the glory
of God in His manhood. They do not confess the sufficiency
of His condescension. And they do not confess the victory
or the necessity of it. They abide not in the doctrine
of Christ. And that's what I'm laboring
to preach to you tonight is this doctrine of Christ. The doctrine
of Christ is everything that has to do with Christ from His
election and appointment in eternity as the mediator to His fulfillment
of it in eternity future. All these things. This is the
doctrine of Christ. And so God speaks through him.
And to mediate, He must create, and what He creates must be in
harmony with the will and purpose of God. And so it brings us to
this thing of creation. God speaks. What did He speak? What He purposed to say in eternity.
That's what He speaks. What He's always going to speak.
He's never going to speak about anything else. Folks talk about,
I'm convicted over my cigarettes. You're not convicted of God over
them. I don't know who's convicted me. The only thing God has to
say to you concerns Christ. And concerning Christ, He'll
convict you of your sins. But you know why you're going
to be convicted of your sins? Because you believe not on Christ.
Isn't that what it says? That's right. That's exactly
what it says over in John chapter 16. Alright, here's the second
thing. Let me get on to this. God speaks
and He says, Let there be light. Let there be light. Now I tell
you, if you had the tongues of men and angels, you couldn't
comprehend or tell the scope of what that word right there
says. Light. Suppose God left everything in
darkness. Suppose He didn't command light. Where would the glory be? Where
would the purpose be? to manifest the purpose of God,
to fulfill the purpose of God, to do the will of God, to do
any of these things, necessitates light. Light. Over in John chapter 1, when
he talks about the Word and then he talks about all the creation,
he said, "...in Him was life, and this life is the light of
men." It's the light. He's the light. Let there be
light. And apart from this commandment, nobody but God Himself could
ever see this glory. It cannot be comprehended in darkness. Man can't comprehend it. That's
why Paul wrote that over there in 1 Corinthians 2.14 about the
natural man. You can't comprehend God in darkness. If He don't send you light, you're
not going to comprehend what He's saying. You're not going
to seek Him. You're not going to be led to
repentance. You're not going to be led to
faith. You're not going to have any of those things happen unless
God speaks and gives you light. Because we're in darkness. We're
in darkness. And that's the position of the
world. That's where it was at. Over
in Acts chapter 17, he talks about God and creation over in
Acts chapter 17, but he describes man in this creation as him that
happily feels after God. He feels after God because he's
in darkness. If he knew God and knew how God
manifested Hisself and had light, he wouldn't feel after Him. He'd
call on Him. He knows who He is. He'd call
on His name. But he don't. He feels after
God. And I want you to think about
that for a little bit because Satan knows that he feels after
God in his darkness and everything Satan uses to deceive him has
to do with his feelings. I remember a little story Henry
used to tell about this fella. These two got into it and they
were just going back and forth and back and forth and back and
forth. And finally the Armenian preacher said, hang on. He said,
hang on. He said, I'll tell you what. He said, let me try to
tell you this way. He said, salvation is like a
large gray elephant. And God's people are blind. And
he said, and one of them has a hold of the trunk. And he's
feeling the trunk of that elephant. And he's describing what he feels. And the other one has a hold
of his tail. And he's trying to describe what he... And the
other one has a hold of his leg, the old fat leg of this elephant,
and he's trying to describe what he feels. He said, now that's
salvation. And the grace preacher told him,
he said, well, he said, I've got a couple problems with that.
And he said, what's that? He said, first of all, salvation
hasn't got anything in common with a large gray elephant. And
he said, number two, God's people aren't blind. They're not blind. Religion describes all these
varying circumstances and has divisions about what they believe
because they're feeling after God in the darkness. They can't
see Him. It takes the commandment of God
to turn on the light. It takes the voice of God to
turn on the light. And I'm going to throw away my
notes here and finish this up like this. Twice, In verse 2 of Genesis chapter
1, you're going to see this tiny little word called face. F-A-C-E,
face. Darkness was upon the face of
the deep. You see it there? And the Spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters. Whose face is that? What's he talking about? Is that
just a figure of speech? The Holy Spirit just using a
figure of speech? They're talking about the face
of the deep and the face of... He's talking about that face
of the mediator that was created in this perfect earth before
Satan corrupted it and cast it into chaos. That's what he's
talking about. And he can't... He shrouded it
in darkness. He shrouded it, whether it be
the purpose of God or an actual creation. I don't know. Some
folks go one way, some go the other there in Genesis 1. But
regardless of what it means, it still means this. That Satan,
whatever it was that God had manifest in that beautiful, perfect
creation, Satan had shrouded in darkness. That's his business. Why would he shroud it in darkness?
Because he thought himself more fitting. to be that mediatorial
king than a God-man. That's why. That's why. That's exactly why. He said,
I'll ascend and sit in the seat of the congregation. I'll be
like the Most High. And God cast him out into the
earth And here it is. Here it is. His presence in the
earth with His demons and those angels that were cast, it says
in one of the books of Peter, reserved in chains of darkness. That's where they're at. They're
in darkness. And He shrouds everything in darkness that has to do with
this redemptive purpose of God. And yet, in creation is the face
of the Redeemer. In creation is the face of the
Mediator King. Everything in it reflects His
face. And then I want you to notice
this. The first mention of the face tells you where the darkness
is. Where is it at? On the face of
the deep. Paul said, we preach the wisdom
of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God hid before
the foundation of the world for your glory. As it is written,
I have not seen or heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But he hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, yea, even the
what? Deep things of God. Ain't that
what he says? Hidden in this darkness. What's
hidden in creation? Paul says in Romans 1, the Godhead
is not hidden. He can know from the things that
are made, His eternal power and Godhead. The Godhead is not hidden
in creation. What did He hide? He hid the
purpose of God in redemption. He hid the Redeemer's face. And
His face over the deep. Darkness was on that. Darkness
was on that face. And the Spirit of God, it said,
moved on the face of the waters. What's the waters? That's the
Word of God. That's the waters of regeneration.
That's the waters of the Gospel, what that is. Waters. And the Spirit of God moved on
the waters. And He always does. It's the
same thing in the new creation. Same thing in the new creation.
Now, turn with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. And I'm going to show you that.
2 Corinthians 4. Everything I just told you about
the old creation, listen to what Paul says here in 2 Corinthians
4, up here in verse 3. He said, If our gospel be hid,
it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. Why? That the excellence of the
glory might be of Him, not of us. Can you see the tie-in between
creation and redemption? Between creation, between the
order in which God is creating and speaking and bringing these
things to pass, and the order of the new creation that's in
you? The first business of God in
the old creation was light. Has to be light. Purpose. And then light on that purpose. What's the first business in
the new creation? Light. Light. You're not going
to be convicted. You're not going to be interested.
You're not going to be afraid. You're not going to be seeking.
You're not going to be anything until God turns on the light.
And when he turns on the light, he exposes what's there. He exposes
what's there. And the power to bring it to
pass, the Spirit of God moved on the waters. What part of the water did it
move on, John? It says on the face. Whose face? His face. His face. And all from that day to this,
He declares and manifests in the Word of God concerning Christ.
He's the Rosetta Stone. He's the only way that you can enter
into the counsels and purpose of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And He's all in redemption and
He's all in creation. And Paul said over there in Colossians,
He's all. Christ is all. He's all.