In the New Testament, we simply see revealed what was in the Old Testament just somewhat concealed. As we move from Torah to Writings to Prophets in the Tanach, we see this pattern of unfolding insights, revelations, and happenings consistently supporting the New Testament through many legal and prophetical precedents.
But in the end, as Revelation 19:10c informs to this effect, that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit / true-intent of Bible prophecy. Our focus is ever on Him, and the revelation of Him in our hearts, minds, and lives -- unto eternity.
In Genesis 1:1 we have the three letters of bara, followed by Shin-Yod-Tav (a garment; something that is put or set, and/or thorn bushes), followed by three letters "bara" again. This changes to an understating of “bara” – Creating, “Sheith” a garment” or we could even say a curtain or tent. It is then followed by the explanation for this purpose, G-D was creating the Heavens and the Earth. [Cf. Isaiah 40:18, 21-22; Job 22:12-14; Job 26:7-11.]
Psalm 68:
4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by his name YaH, and rejoice before him.
8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
In Psalm 68:4, YH rides the Heavens, and then in verse 8, drops them over Sinai. Rashi concurs with this in his commentary on Exodus 19:20's "Vayeired YHVeH al Har Sinai", saying Heaven was made like a bedspread over Sinai, because G-D still talked from Heaven (Exodus 20:19) WHILE BEING PRESENT AT SINAI!
In other words, the pattern at Genesis 1:1 is that of the Holy of Holies. Heaven as the ark of the Covenant, and the Earth as Eben Shethiyah (the rock upon which the ark sits), and the curtains of darkness as the bounds of an enclosed universe within a greater universe of light.
Eben as Alef -BeN (G-D's Son: Jesus) and Shethiyah as Sheth: a Garment or 6th of, and YaH: YHVeH. By itself, like Jeremiah 2:13 and 17:13, Shethiyah is seen a the source of living drinking waters. And we know that this rock of waters known by Moses and Israel, is clearly designated by Paul as a prophetical type of Jesus Christ, because Sheth can also mean that which is "put and substituted" as Christ our substitute and redeeming sacrifice, the Lamb of G-D, was for us.
So with Beresheis, we read bara sheith, and see the shethiy (the warp weave of a garment) through the whole Bible in Jesus (Revelation 19:10c). Isaiah 26:1's use of "sets" designates this same thought, that Yeshua is set as a garment as our walls and ramparts. He it is who is the prophetical Ath/Oth, that is the special coming sign of G-D present in Genesis 1:1, for which the universe and all Creation was made for.
At the Creation, in John 1:3 , of YHVeH Messiah, we are informed twice that “all things through Him εγενετο” -- all things came into being at a point in time when the “Beginning” was in a new state, and still unfolding into existence (i.e., ginomai being twice in the aorist).
“Egeneto” is followed immediately by an emphasis on ginomai’s perfect tense: “gegonen”. This tells us the continuing existence of the new state that has come into existence, as being upheld by the word of His power (as it were).
And on and on we can go. So next time you read Genesis 1, use the model of the Holy of Holies, in which Heaven (the ark) and Earth (Eben Shethiyah) are brought into existence. And He who issues those living waters out of Himself, creates a Creation to take on a Ministry and Mystery of Redemption in a form of matter that was never before existing. Trumpeting forth in clearness (Job 26:13's use of Shiprah) a mystery of redeeming not only those who will be created and fall away, but save also those cherubs (priests) and angels (levites) of Heaven who have not fallen away. At least, that is what I perceive in all this. Shalom.
Rashi, in explaining Genesis 1:1 teaches us that wherever the word resheith occurs in Scripture, it is in the construct state. Rashi then gives us some examples, such as:
Genesis 10:10, "The beginning of (resheith) his kingdom,"
Deuteronomy 18:4, "The firstfruit of (resheith) thy corn."
Jeremiah 26:1, "In the beginning of (resheith) the reign of Jehoiakim,"
In this, Rashi teaches us that G-D created the Universe in the Beginning, and like Paul, rules that the creation occurring in Genesis 1:1 is likened unto the "firstfruits" of Creation. In I Corinthians 15, Paul informs us:
Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept... Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. (vv.20,23).
And so it is at the Creation. For 3 days and nights there is no day or night as we know it. The stars and planets are non-existant...for only the singular Earth rests in a Universe filled with darkness. The Spirit of G-D acting as the Shekinah or dwelling presence of G-D over the Earth, is as the Day. The Spirit does NOT shine forth into the deep, but radiates of His own accord, as the skin of Moses radiated forth like a glow in the dark light stick...but did not penetratingly "beam" forth like the rays of the sun (or as a powerful flashlight) into the darkness.
In effect, the Creation begins with the death of Jesus, being in the Earth 3 days and nights, in the very design of the Creation.
But then the rabbins would also state that what is left out -- is about as important as what was left in. The question leads us from Genesis 1:1 to ask...where did the waters come from?
Rashi: "The Spirit of God was hovering on the face of the waters, and Scripture had not yet revealed/proclaimed and called out [as though read aloud] - (HaMiQRA) when the creation of the waters took place -- See now, you must now have learned from this that the waters preceded that of the earth.
In other words, if we know that Heaven has water because it flows from G-D's throne (Rev. 22:1, Eze. 47:1, Jer. 2:13 & 17:13, etc.). Therefore, citing these verses, G-D on His Throne must be present at the Creation.
The water from G-D's throne gushes forth as rain (Psalm 65:9, Revelation 22:1, Joel 3:18). Through 2 Corinthians 5, and many other passages like the gathering of the Sons of G-D in Job 1:6, and 2 Chronicles 18:18, we see the Throne of HASHEM is the destination of all G-D's own. In Job 38:7, we see that the angels (sons of G-D) and the cherubim (morning stars) are present at this Creation of the Earth (vv.4-7). We know that these creatures are implied, because (again) there are no constellations or material matter present in the universe outside the confines of the Earth until the 4th evening/day.
Rashi takes this "Throne" hovering aspect on in discussing verse 2.
And the Spirit of G-D was hovering -- The Throne of Glory was standing in the air and hovering over the surface of the water by the breath/Spirit of the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed is He, and by His statement, like a dove that hovers over the nest.
The rabbis discuss this "breath aspect in Chagigah 15a and Midrash Tehillim 93:5. They essentially rule out the impersonal of the word "breath", and insert the translation that by the Spirit the Throne of Glory was hovering.
In John 7, we read:
37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
In other words, if the Throne of Glory is present, and the waters flow from G-D's throne in Eze. 47:1, from the Father and the Lamb in Rev. 22:1, and the pre-incarnate Jesus is the one from whom the water flows at the Creation of the world...what is Genesis 1:1 testifying to?
1 In the beginning [Bere-sheith]God created the heaven and the earth.
1 Creating a garment [read also as "bara-sheith"]
G-D creating the (coming prophetical) sign [bara elohim ath] / [ath/athah - ath/oth]
of the heaven and the earth [ha-sh'mayim ve'ath ha'eretz].
In other words, from Genesis 1:1, we are informed of a new thing...the incarnation of G-D, covered with earth (a new thing, a new material) , and an act of atonement of some sort by doing so...for the creatures of Heaven...when Genesis 1:1 is viewed in confines of Temple Service, as being represented by the Holy of Holies: the ark of the Covenant resting on the Earth of Eben Shethiyah. The blood is sprinkled on the mercy seat, G-D dwelling in the midst of the cherubim, and atonement is made.
If the life of the flesh is in the blood, and water makes up blood, and Jesus gushed forth blood and water at the Cross...then we are made up as creatures of the spiritual blood of Heaven...waters being a type or representation of blood in Heaven, and the life's blood (if you will) of all material Creation.
Much to absorb and consider. Shalom.
I would also like to add the mystery of the red heifer is revealed through the study of this verse, if we follow what I have written above.
The rabbis cannot explain the mystery of the red heifer...it is too high. And indeed, it is very involved. But it appears that the heifer is linked to a face of the cherub (the OX: though it also possesses that of a lion, eagle, man and its other 3 sides of its head as well.) You will also notice that the cherub/seraph feet are OX hooves, like the heifer, and these creatures walk in the midst of the stones of fire. This is relevant to the discussion of the Nechushtan - the copper dragon or seraph on a stick that many so eagerly might best call as "a stake with a snake". No...it was indeed a cross that stayed the plague. The snake, like a heartbeat, would have been horizontal, representing the time of sin from head to tail...and pierced in the middle at the pole, representing what Christ would do at the Cross in the middle area (in the midst) of time.
The Creation is described as being very hot, so much so, that like when we caucasians come out of a hot shower or hot tub, our skin turns red. So it is that Adam is regarded as "red"...and King David, a type of Christ, was red in complexion as well. Divided in Gematria, ADaM becomes: the letter A (Alef- representing the abbreviative of Elohim / G-D) and DaM - "blood". Hence, in the prophetical, the red heifer is linked to ADaM and the representation of G-D's Blood.
Everyone entering into Temple through the Southern Triple Gates was to be sprinkled with the water and the ashes of the red heifer mingled into it as a means of Heavenly type and atonement.
So if water originated first from Heaven, from the inner being of G-D the pre-Incarnate Son, and other pasages tell us that G-D spoke and lifeless matter came into being...what does this tell us?
The life of Creation is in there being a presence of water. The life of the flesh is in the blood. Blood is composed of water PLUS.... The ashes of the red heifer point us to the understanding of Christ, that it is someone living who gives us life. G-D is not a G-D of the dead, but of the living. The blood of Christ is not just communion wine taken in faith through ritual. The blood of Christ is not just water from the innermost being of G-D on His throne in Heaven. The blood of Christ, like the red heifer ashes, like even the substance of water, is a mystery...a covering and absolving atonement taken by faith / trust into what Christ did for us at the Cross.
G-D is a consuming fire. Then how do we even explain water coming forth from Him and that He is the mountain artesian-well-spring source (as the Hebrew explains it in Jeremiah 2:13, 17:13)?
Sometimes, the ability to simply accept Jesus and take on faith the simple Gospel message, is so much easier that it is the very wisest course of action. With much knowledge, comes much grief, say the Proverb. Often, scholars learn how to not think, the more educated they get. Like communism and fascism, education is often a ritual of indoctrination of anti-biblical demands upon your soul to receive their recognition, money, or acceptance. Let them keep it and perish.
I have found, that no matter how deeply I search G-D's Word, the Holy Bible of 66 books - Old & New Testaments, Jesus is always there woven into its deepest recesses. It is utterly impossible for the Bible to have been the manipulation of men...it is the careful design of the Almighty to testify of Jesus with a perfect clarity and economy or word use. It is always ready to demonstrate a straight-forward or an underlying message about Jesus in such a way, that the wording in Greek or Hebrew couldn't be any clearer or briefer...because even the perceived imperfections are also telling us something in pointing to Christ. Be it through parallel synonyms through Gematria, or other methods of drawing out a Scripture or the particular words thereto.
So if you don't trust Jesus yet...do. And if you already trust Jesus, take heart, and know the depths of His revelations are so vast, that we will all have to sit at His feet in the Kingdom, and be instructed by Him to all that we have read and missed...and joy with each and every verse with all excitement and without any weariness or disinterest...because the Living G-D will be teaching us, and we will be so fully alive (even in the glorified bodies we will then have) in that world to come.
Hope to see you there. Shalom.
Genesis 1
1 In the beginning G-D created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of G-D moved upon the face of the waters.
In Colossians 1:15, Paul refers to Christ as the "prototokos pases ktiseos" -- "(the) One who is pre-eminent above and over all Creation and its Creatures."
If we compare this to Revelation 3:14's "he arche tes ktiseos", we see that Jesus is (again) the Source or First-Cause of creation; and that is why He has pre-eminence: because - "in Him, life was; and the Life was the Light of men. All things were made by Him. And without Him, was not made any (thing) that was made." (John 1:4,3). But Jesus Himself testifies:
John 5:26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
John 1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
[In Greek: εν αρχη ην ο λογος και ο λογος ην προς τον θεον και θεος ην ο λογος.]
2The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
In John 1:3, using the word "ginomai" (the Greek verb which means "to become"), we are informed that it is through the Logos (of John 1:1) that:
"all things through Him CAME INTO BEING (egeneto) and without Him CAME INTO BEING (egeneto) not even one (thing) that CAME INTO BEING (gegonen)."
Ginomai in the aorist is egeneto...referring back in Time to a point when the "beginning" or "New State" was occurring or still unfolding into existence.
After the aorist, we move from egeneto to gegone...the perfect tense of ginomai. Gegone speaks of the continuing existence of this Beginning is dependant upon the Logos of John 1:1. That is,
"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." (Job 26:7)
The hanging of the earth and all existence, is continually up held by His spoken word and the power of His will, the same will as that of the Father. The new state of a planet hanging on nothing, continues even to this day...and not just the earth, but all constellations.
When John uses protos in Revelation 1:5, when he quotes Messiah Yeshua as “the First”, he does not just explain Messiah as being just a “first one” born from the dead, but reaches for a deeper meaning.
Christ is “before the birth” πρωτοτοκος of all Creation, as Paul cites in Colossians 1:15. He bears forth the Creation of the universe by His power, the power of the spoken word (Hebrews 11:3, Isaiah 14:24). This we see from the introduction in Genesis 1:3...and G-D spoke....
The Father thinks it, the Son speaks it into existence (John 8:28,38; 12:49; 14:24; Psalm 119:160, 33:6,9).
Cf. the “Oneness of GOD” in John 10:30, Deuteronomy 6:4, Zechariah 14:9.
The Holy Spirit is the Agent / Person of the G-Dhead sent by both the Son and the Father. He is present at the Creation (Genesis 1:2), fills the Universe (Psalm 139:7), is called the source of all gifts in the Church (I Corinthians 12). He is deified in the fact that lying to and blaspheming Him in particular, is to lie to and blaspheme G-D (Acts 5:3-4; Matthew 12:31). He is the ever active co-agent with Christ in redeeming man to the Father through regeneration and sanctification (John 3:5; Romans 1:4 and 8:11; I Corinthians 6:11; Titus 3:5-7; Ephesisans 3:15-17).
The Holy Spirit care-takes and aids in the order of this Universe as the third person of the G-Dhead, guiding -counseling - teaching of Yeshua (as a mother would teach her children, perhaps), but operating within the parameters of glorifying the Son -- Yeshua, Jesus Christ (Romans 8:2; Isaiah 40:13, John 16:13, Psalm 104:1-6, Job 38:5-6, Genesis 1:2, Revelation 22:17).
And although it was NOT the first Nicene Creed that brought the apologetics in explaining the Holy Spirit, but rather the subsequent councils such as Antioch in 341 and Constantinople in 381, which appendaged the Nicene Creed against the Heretics and Schisms wasting the Eastern Church...as we see in Genesis 1:2, the Holy Spirit, along with Jesus, is present at the Creation, because He is the third member of the Trinity.
And I appreciate Rosh Chodesh for pointing out the ehad praise of the seraphim creatures about G-D's throne, who say Holy, Holy, Holy...because they praise G-D the Father, G-D the Son, and G-D the Holy Spirit at the very throne of G-D. The same throne that was hovering in Genesis 1:2...and the same 3 Holies who are 1 G-D, mentioned by G-D Himself as being at the Creation in Job 38:4-7.
In KoRBaN, that sacrifice or even attitude of humility "which is to be brought near, up to, alongside"...
-- we have the alternative possibility of viewing this word as: KoR, meaning "cold" {as a body that is dead}; and BeN, meaning "Son". And we affirm, that Christ had died {was cold}, Christ is risen {made alive, hot again, because G-D is a consuming fire}, and Christ will come again. In Revelation 1:17-18 says, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
Thus, the true sacrifice or offering that is brought forth will be that Son who is destined to die as a sacrifice brought near to G-D. Hence, the attitude of humility -- of lowness -- is the attitude of Christ to the will of the Father, and shows that even KoRBaN testifies of Him.
In John 1:1, we see that Yeshua is "pros ton Theon", meaning "up alongside and with G-D"; and "kai Theos een ho Logos", meaning "and G-D was {found in fullness in} the Word {i.e., the Son}." He is Korban.
John 1:1 therefore explains HOW Yeshua can be Immanuel, without taking away from G-D the Father or His substance. Jesus and the Holy Spirit are with the Father as ONE Co-existent, One Ehad (not yachid) -- united in complex unity -- G-D. Hence, to believe in Trinity is rational, because it is biblically sound in its accuracy of showing what the Bible itself teaches. And when viewed as a whole in context, we see that the Bible testifies of itself that Jesus is not only present in Genesis 1:1...but that Genesis 1:1 is about Jesus.
As I have shown previously in other posts,
(for example)
http://forums.jewsforjesus.org/showthread.php?tid=455
Rashi says...in the Hebrew... that the Shekinah [the dwelling cloud of G-D] speaks. In using this language, the Jewish sages concur that he [Rashi] simply meant 'G-D'.
That is, Rashi assigns a presence of G-D as being G-D...a person...not an "it" or "force".
So if the Shekinah speaks, and Rashi isn't banned by the Rabbis for saying thus...what else about this Voice does Rashi say, so as to infer "personhood" upon what might otherwise have been written off as Semantics in the English translations?
In Genesis 1:2, we are in the midst of 3 nights and 3 days of Christ's coming time in the tomb. It is being played out on the macro-cosmic scale. For 3 nights and 3 days we have the unformed earth, like a blob of clay, just sitting and hanging upon nothing in a darkened universe. Is it hard or is it soft? Is it hot at the first or is it cold? We don't know. But G-D is likened unto a potter, and we the clay. We are told we come from the dust of the earth, in the Bible. But how is the clay made fit for the potter's use? By water.
As stated, the water has to come from the Throne of Glory. G-D speaks forth the creation of this matter called "the Earth" or "the land" or "the ground", first.
Before all other matter is created in the Universe, we are made or created out of the literal first material substance -- that is, we are of the first matter -- in this Universe. The moon and the stars are secondary creations, and secondary or alien matter to us. They are similar and yet different...like the angels and cherubim are both similar and different, and compared to us as the constellations are compared to the Earth. Behold the mystery.
As the water poured forth from the Throne of Glory, a new thing happened in this universe...air. The spiritual waters became transformed into the physical...and somehow the Earth absorbed the waters of the Throne of Glory like a sponge. It grew soft and pliable. It became prepared, like our hearts when it hears the gospel and the water of the Living Word, prepared to receieve life.
The Holy Spirit was hovering at the Beginning over the face of the deep, with the Father and the Son, and moved upon the faces of the waters. Notice that the waters also represent the water of G-D's word...the announcing of the Good News of Jesus Christ in the Bible. Notice that, at the Beginning, the Holy Spirit moves forth with the Water of G-D...and at the end of days, He again, rains down with His presence as likened unto waters:
"And in that Day, it will be that the mountains will rain down YHVeH's Spirit, as though flowing down forth an intoxicating new wine;
and the hills will gush forth and flow with fatness; and all the deep channels of Judah shall flow with Living Waters;
and an over-flowing river shall pour forth as an artesian well-spring from the mountain of G-D -- from out of the House of YHVeH will it go out --
and a refreshing and a watering will it give, as it fills even the Valley of the Pierced Tree."
(
Joel 3:18, my translation, fully amplified including the Hebrew word pictures).
Whenever there was, and is, and will be life brought forth in this manifest Universe, the Bible explicitly informs us that both Yeshua / Jesus (the Word) and the Holy Spirit (Wisdom) are to be there.
Again, it is a mystery like the Holy of Holies. The Menorah and the 7 Spirits of G-D (Revelation 4:5) lay outside the veil...and yet G-D the Lamb, like the Word of John 1:1c, possesses the fullness of the Deity of G-D as G-D from G-D (Revelation 5:6, John 1:1b), and chooses to make his dwelling place within the veil...between the Cherubim, upon Eben Shethiyah (upon the Earth).
Great is the Mystery...yet still showing us that Genesis 1:1 is revealed in Christ. Shalom.
Expanded with word pictures from the Hebrew, we read a section of Genesis 1:2 as:
"And the Earth was then in a state of existence that no longer exists, being an empty and barren place of nothingness -- desolate and without any life whatsoever; and the face immediately above the deep was darkness."
Have you ever asked yourself, "Why did G-D ever give us the moon?" Is it because we are mainly composed of and made up of water, and that there is this delicate state of balance which needs to counteract a singular direction of gravity? Is it a means in which moods and other forces can be manipulated in us? Or is it something else?
The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:
14 And G-D said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
16 And G-D made two great [HaGaDoLIM] lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17 And G-D set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and G-D saw that it was good.
19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
The moon is meant to be a sign that is made great, "gadol", as a sign upon the Earth. It is a sign that will "grow in greatness and importance", after the Hebrew meaning of the word. And what is that importance? To become as a sign to remind us of the Earth as it was in the Beginning...an empty and barren place of nothingness -- desolate and without any life whatsoever.
However, unlike the Earth, the moon was not glowing of a radiance of the presence of G-D the Holy Spirit. The moon shines in the darkness because of the rays of the sun...an external source...like the Earth had at the Beginning.
When Moses was with the pre-Incarnate Jesus, the G-D of Israel, for 40 days, his face shone the light of G-D as if his skin had absorbed that light (Exodus 34:29). G-D is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (I John 1:5). So by example, we probably have the same circumstance in which the skin of the Earth "shone" because of G-D's presence.
As we gaze upon the light of the moon...remember the Creation. Think upon the phonetic simultude of the English words "Sun" and "Son". And think upon this verse:
And Jesus [the Son of G-D] spoke, saying,
"I am the LIGHT of the world. Whosoever follows Me will never walk in Darkness." (John 8:12)
Shalom.
In the New Testament, we simply see revealed what was in the Old Testament just somewhat concealed.
This reminds me of a little ditty my old Christian Grandfather taught me when I was young. I didn't understand it then, but when I became a Christian at the age of 53 and started reading the Bible for myself my Grandfathers ditty hugely helped my spiritual understanding of the Bible.
"The New is in the Old councealed;
The Old is in the New revealed."
DavidJ
"The New is in the Old councealed;
The Old is in the New revealed."
Amen
The old from outside in
and the new from inside out
Blessed be the name of the Lord.