GENESIS IN THE
LIGHT OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
PART I
GOD’S COUNSELS IN CREATION.
(Chap. i.
& ii.) Introductory
IN seeking to develop (as is now my purpose) the truths of
the New Testament from the history of the Old, it is the typical meaning with
which we have to do. The divine glory, as seen in Moses’ face, was vailed
to the people addressed; for us, the vail is done away in Christ. The words of
the apostle with reference to Israel’s history, it can scarcely be
doubted, apply no less to that which was but prefatory to theirs - "Now, all
these things happened unto them for ensamples [lit, types]; and are written for
our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are."
He gives us,
moreover, many of the details, - Adam, a type of
Christ; Eve, of the Church; Abel’s offering, of the sinner’s
acceptance; Noah’s salvation by the ark, of our
own in Christ; Melchizedek, king of righteousness and peace; the story of
Abraham’s two sons; and a hint, at least, as
to the offering up of Isaac (Gal. iii. i6, i7.). Nor
is this all that is commonly recognized as typical, though some no doubt would
have us stop where the inspired explanation stops. But in that case, how large
a part of what is plainly symbolical would be lost to us - the larger part of
the Levitical ordinances, not a few of the parables of the Lord Himself, and
almost the whole of the book of Revelation. Surely none could deliberately
accept a principle which would lock up from us so large a part of the inspired
Word.
Still many have the thought that it would be safer to refrain
from typical applications of the historical portions where no inspired
statement authenticates them as types at all. Take, however, such a history as
that of Joseph, which no direct scripture speaks of as a type, yet the common
consent of almost all receives as such; or Isaac’s sacrifice, of the
significance of which we have the merest hint. The more we consider it, the
more we find it impossible to stop short here. Fancy, no doubt, is to be
dreaded. Sobriety and reverent caution are abundantly needful. But so are they
every where. If we profess wisdom, we become fools: subjection to the blessed
Spirit of God, and to the Word inspired of Him, are our only safeguards here
and elsewhere.
When we look a little closer, we find that the types are
not scattered haphazard in the Old Testament books. On the contrary, they are
connected together and arranged in an order and with a symmetry which bear
witness to the divine band which has been at work throughout. We find Exodus
thus to be the book of redemption; Leviticus, to speak of what suits God with
us in the sanctuary - of sanctification; then Numbers, to give the wilderness
history our walk with God (after redemption and being brought to Him where He
is) through the world. Each individual type in these different books will be
found to have most intimate and significant relation to the great central
thought pervading the book. This, when laid hold of, confirms immensely our
apprehension of the general and particular meaning, and gives it a force little
if at all short of absolute demonstration.
The great central truth in
Genesis is "LIFE." It thus begins where all begins actually for the soul. God
is seen in it as Life-giver, Creator; this involving necessarily also that He
is sovereign in purpose and Almighty* in execution. This is why Genesis is, as
it has been called, "the seed-plot of the Bible," because it is the book of the
counsels of the sovereign and almighty God.
*Which is plainly God’s
revelation of Himself to Abraham, to Isaac, an Jacob, as distinct from Jehovah
to Israel (see Exod. vi. 8). In the rest of the Pentateuch the word occurs only
in Balaam’s prophecy (Num. xxiv.), and only in Ruth besides of all the
historical books where God has wrought, and where the "flesh lusteth against
the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to
the other." Next, Noah’s passage through the judgment of the old world
into a new scene, accepted of God in the sweet savor of sacrifice, is the type
of where salvation puts us - "in Christ, a new creation: old things passed
away, and all things become new." (Chap. vi. - xi. 9.)
But "life" is,
so to speak, the key-note - the thread upon which all else is strung. Genesis
is plainly almost entirely a series of biographies. It divides, after the
introductory account of creation, in chapters i. and ii, into seven of these,
in which we have a perfect picture of divine life in the soul, from its almost
imperceptible beginning to its full maturity.
Adam gives us the
beginning, when, with the entrance of God’s Word, light comes into the
soul of a sinner, and God meets him as such with the provision of His grace.
(Chap. iii.)
Then, (Chap. iv. and v.) we have the history of the two
"seeds," and their antagonism, - a story which has its counterpart in the
history of the world at large, but also in every individual soul
Abraham’s Canaan life - pilgrim and stranger, but a worshipper, gives
us the fruit and consequence of this - a "walk in Him" whom we have received.
(Chap. xi. 10 - 21.)
Then, Isaac, our type as "sons, (Gal. iv. 28.)
speaks to us of a self-surrender into a Father’s hands, the door into a
life of quiet and enjoyment, as it surely is. (Chap. xxii. - xxiv. 33.)
Jacob speaks of the discipline of sons, by
which the crooked and deceitful man becomes Israel, a prince with God, - a
chastening of love, dealing with the fruits of the old nature in us. (Chap.
xxvi. 34 - xxxvii. 1.)
While Joseph, the
fullest image of Christ, suffers, not for sin, but for righteousness’
sake, and attains supremacy over the world, and fullness of blessing from the
almighty One, his strength. (Chap. xxxvii. 2 - 1.)
All this we may more
fully see hereafter. Even this hint of it may make plain what I have already
stated to be the main feature of the hook, with which the first section
corresponds in the closest way. Like many another first section, but perhaps
beyond any other, it is really a sort of table of contents to the rest of the
book. It is of course much more than that, as we shall see, if the Lord give
wisdom to unfold what this story of creation gives us.
It is, as all
else here, a type, while it is none the less on that account a literal history.
Its spiritual meaning in no wise turns it into myth or fable, as some would
assume. "All these things happened unto them," says the apostle, - so the
things really happened, but - "for types." What importance must attach, then,
to a "type," to produce which God has actually modelled the history of the
world from the beginning! With what reverence should we listen to the
utterances so strangely given, so marvellously "written for our admonition"!
Instead of setting aside the literal record of creation, it surely confirms it
in the highest degree that the Creator should demonstrate Himself the new
Creator, and show how in laying the foundations of the earth which sin has
cursed and death has scarred, He who seeth the end from the beginning had even
then before Him, in the depths and counsels of His heart, a scene into which,
secure in its unchanging Head, sin and death no more should enter - which they
should nevermore defile! It is divine, this record: true, of course, then, and
infinitely more - although faith be needed for the realization of it.
I
do not doubt that the story before us is not merely even a single, but a
twofold type; finding its fulfillment in two spheres, which are very generally
correspondent to one another. The world without has its reflection in the world
within us. So the steps in the divine dealing with the world at large have
their correspondence with His dealing with us as individuals. In our
consideration of them, this individual application will come first. It is that
which is most prominent all through, and which links the whole series of types
together; and this has its significance for us. In men’s thoughts you will
find, as what they imagine to be advanced and liberal views, the progress of
the race putting out of sight the interest of the individual: they speak much
of man, think little of men.* It is not so with God; the blessing of the race
is reached (with Him) through the blessing of the individual, and not one is
overlooked. Nay, "not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father." This
is what is in His heart, whatever the perplexity which sin has introduced; and
oh how profoundly needful for us the assurance of this! It may do for
philosophy to proclaim the grandeur of general laws, to which the individual
good must give place; but the grip of this iron machinery has none of the
comfort of the grasp of a Father’s hand. The heart of God alone suffices
the hearts which He has made.
Let us take, then, this individual
application first, and let creation preach to us lessons which may be happily
familiar to us, and yet have a new charm as preached thus, where (as all
preaching should be,) the sermon is an anthem, and the anthem is in the many
voices of the universe - the revelation-chorus to which all will come at last:
"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,
and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,
‘Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the
throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever!"’
*As, e. g. Dr.
Temple’s "Education of the World," in ‘Essays and Reviews."
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