In the Beginning, before anything of what we know of as earth or the nearest heavens existed, God was. He formed everything of this earth ex nihilo (out of nothing.) From the Beginning Jesus was with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Always existing in relationship-harmoniously perfect life, love, hope and joy from the beginning. God (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth. Elohim is plural—the first presentation of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit is from the beginning. This is reiterated by the Apostle John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made, and without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:1 (Berean Study Bible)
We are also introduced to the Holy Spirit’s presence at creation while at the same time it is reconfirmed that the creation was from ex nihilo (out of nothing):
2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Genesis 1:2 NKJV
King Jesus from the Beginning
From verse 3 through 24 we have a series of “Then God said, let there be…” or “let the earth, waters, or land” bring forth. All speaking by the Word of His mouth everything into being. That is, He spoke into being every creature apart from Man whom He formed out of the dust of the earth. His words spoke the heavens, the earth with all living things into being until the wording changed. Still, who is the Word of God? King Jesus is the Word. Also, He wrote for each day, “So the evening and the morning were the” first day, second day, and on through the sixth. There is no doubt left to the imagination that these were six literal days—not some symbolism of anything else.
Furthermore, He created all living things such as sea creatures, birds, and animals “according to their kind.” Even the theory of evolution was never able to show the transformation of one Kind into another. Adaptations occur within a “kind.” Therefore, since scientific truths must be reproducible, the inability to transform even a bacterium into a virus or vice versa, evolution fails the test of time.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.” So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1 Berean Bible.
Note: Let us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. Man uniquely was given the ability to reason and to be filled with the attributes of God.
As An Additional Thought—unconfirmed by anyone else.
Also, I believe this is another indicator of the triune nature of God. Since the beginning, we were created with a body, a soul, and a spirit. Although spiritually we are born dead since the fall. However, at the time of creation, Adam and Eve were alive spiritually and thereby walked and talked with God. So, I have correlated that also as being in His image, as God is also body-Christ, Spirit-the Holy Spirit, and Soul—the Father.
I fully disclose that this is an idea of my own and therefore take it at that One humans idea as to the meaning of this.
Genesis 2:7-25 (Berean Bible)
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man, He had formed. Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters. The name of the first river is Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there. The name of the second river is Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it runs along the east side of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper. “And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adame no suitable helper was found.
So, the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh. And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him. And the man said:
“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man, she was taken.” For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
But they fall and suddenly are spiritually dead
Now the serpent was craftier than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’ ” The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden, but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”
You will not surely die,” the serpent told her. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so, they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
Genesis 3:1-7
Let us take notice of a few points:
- They walked with God every evening. He had created them. Before they sinned, there were no sinful thoughts. No shame. And no guilt. Yet, as soon as sin entered, they ran from God. the only one who could fix things. And they thought they could hide from Him who created everything?
- Now spiritually dead, even their relationship changed toward each other.
- At no point did they think to seek God, repent, and beg forgiveness. It was God the son, King Jesus who came to search for them. “Where are you?
When He knew exactly where they were.
King Jesus, the Word, walks and talks with Adam and Eve from the Beginning
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
Notice they heard the Voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day. Who is the Word? So, who came to redeem them? I had never noticed this until I was listening to Amir Tsarfati a Jew who came to know Jesus as Lord while reading Isaiah. He pointed out that in the Jewish Bible, the word here is that they heard the word of God Walking.
“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid myself.” Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
Genesis 3: 8-13 Berean Bible
Also, notice that even when confronted, fallen Adam goes as far as to blame both his wife and God Himself for sinning. How quickly broken man shows up as so different, as to not even love this wife he had been willing to sin for.
The Redeemer Promised Since the Beginning: King Jesus
So, the LORD God said to the serpent:
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and every beast of the field!
On your belly will you go,
and dust you will eat,
all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your seed and her seed.
He will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
The promise was certain and is certain. Satan is crushed and will be totally crushed one day.
To the woman He said:
“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;
in pain you will bring forth children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”
You will face pain, sorrow, suffering; but it will be through the pain that salvation will come.
And to Adam He said:
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten from the tree
of which I commanded you not to eat,
cursed is the ground because of you;
through toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your bread,
until you return to the ground—
because out of it were you taken.
For dust you are,
and to dust you shall return.”
Suddenly, because of the knowledge of Good and evil, life changed.
And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.
Genesis 3:14-20 BEREAN
A Picture of King Jesus: the covering
And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them. Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever…” Therefore, the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. So, He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.
Innocence had to die to provide the covering. Again, a picture of King Jesus who would die to save all of us. Before that the animals were under the care of Adam. But now, Adam must watch the slaughter of one to clothe Him. King Jesus would die, taking the penalty of our sin—so that we might live cloaked in His righteousness. Furthermore, God removed them from the tree of life because otherwise they would be forever caught in sin with no redemption. How glad I am not to be forever caught in this body and mind. One day I will have a glorified body with a mind and heart like His. That is my hope and dream.
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Colossians 3:10
For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. Romans 8:29
Never Forget
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. John 17:3
But we all, with open faces beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6.
DO YOU KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR SAVIOR AND LORD? He is our only Hope in Life and Death! Our Joy is found in Him.
Therefore if you don’t know Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord: I urge you today. Go to my page titled How to Be Saved by clicking on this link. There is nothing more important than this; because He is the way, the truth and the life. Therefore, I urge you to seek Him today.
For Prayer or Comments
If you have a prayer request feel free to email me by clicking here
Furthermore, if you would like to share your story or thoughts, you can comment here
Disclosures
©Effie Darlene Barba, 2024
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. Furthermore, I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned except for my own books. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
All Bible text today unless otherwise stated is from:
The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible, BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee. This text of God’s Word has been dedicated to the public domain.