The Bible is a Book of Life; God Uses the Spirit, Word, and Light to Generate Life!

The Bible is a book of life, and in order for us to understand and receive what the Bible is about, we need to open to God, the Writer of the Bible.

The book of Genesis as the first book of the Bible is not a record of creation and then of the history of the people of Israel and its formation. Rather, the book of Genesis is a book of life, showing us how we can experience Christ as life. The first chapter in the Bible, Genesis 1, is too short and too concise to be an accurate record of God’s creation.

People may read Genesis 1 to find out how did God create the heavens and the earth, and how creation came into being. However, many of them are disappointed and not satisfied with the record in Genesis 1.

God didn’t intend to write the Bible and especially Genesis 1 with the view of explaining to us how He created all things. Rather, Genesis 1 shows us how God as life comes in to generate life and be life to man in his experience. When we come to the the book of Genesis we shouldn’t expect to find an accurate record of creation and history, but we should approach the Word of God with God’s point of view, so that we may receive life, grow in life, and enjoy God as life.

In the first five verses in Genesis 1 we see that God uses “the instruments” of the Spirit, the word, and the light to generate life on the first day of His restoration and further creation for the fulfillment of His purpose. First, the Spirit came in to brood over the death waters, then God spoke the Word, and light came in to generate life.

Finally, the separation of the light from the darkness for the purpose of discerning day from night. Hallelujah!

The Bible is a Book of Life and God’s Central Thought is a Matter of Life

Only a hundred years or so ago people loved the Bible and respected it as God’s inspired word, but it seems that today there’s a generation who does not know God, doesn’t know or respect the Bible, and many times doesn’t even want to know God. They believe in “science” and all kinds of strange philosophies.

The so-called “scientists” today are looking for the God-particle, looking for “the last piece of the cosmic puzzle”, something that would explain how the universe came into being and what gives matter to everything. People want to discover how creation and matter came into being. We as believers in Christ know who is the God-particle, who upholds and sustains everything in the universe, and who gives matter to everything: it is Christ!

And the Bible is not a book of signs, history, or knowledge, but a book of revelation and mystery, a book of life. The word of God is a book about God, the divine being, who is life and the source of life in the universe. There are many problems today in Christianity and among people when believers want to stand on a different ground than this concerning the Bible.

When we come to the Bible, we need to have God’s view, approaching the Word of God not to find knowledge but to receive life. The Bible is not here to strengthen your argument about how the world was created or to help you debate concerning creationism, but to help you know God and His purpose, which is God as life to man for the fulfillment of God’s purpose!

Even when we come to Genesis 1 and 2, we all have to admit that these two chapters are simply too short and brief to deal with the entire creation and to explain how God created everything.

The Bible is not here to debate about that or to explain HOW God created all things. Let the nations debate, make a roar, have an academic war and a cultural war and even a political war around this….because the One who sits in the heavens laughs! We simply believe the Bible and enjoy God as life, kissing God the Son (Psa. 2) and enjoying Him for God’s purpose!

Life is the focus of the Bible, and life is the direction and the goal of God’s creation. Many things related to creation are not recorded in the Bible, so what the Bible is silent about is not for us to figure out. May we come to the Bible in a new and fresh way, taking it in as a book of life and seeking to find God as life in it (John 5:39).

…But the Earth Became Waste and Emptiness (Gen. 1:2)

In the beginning of time, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1), and there are a few verses in the Bible which clearly indicate that even the angels shouted for joy when they saw God’s perfect creation. God created a perfect and orderly universe, just as He Himself is perfect.

So what happened then between Gen. 1:1 and Gen. 1:2, where we see that “the earth became waste and emptiness”? God didn’t create waste and emptiness – He created a perfect universe. If we read the portions in Isa. 14:9-14 and Ezek. 28:12-18 we see that there was a rebellion in the universe. One of God’s creatures, Lucifer, who was an archangel created by God to lead the worship of all created beings at that time, who was very close to God and beautiful, smart, gifted, and shining – he rebelled against God and wanted to replace God with himself.

Because of the pride in his heart, he instigated a rebellion, and an amount of angels and pre-Adamic creatures followed him in his rebellion. But God came in and judged the earth with water, and the earth became waste, empty, dark, and deep. The whole earth was covered by the waters of death.

Due to Satan’s rebellion, God judged the earth and the angelic beings who followed the devil, and death came in. What we see in Gen. 1:2-11 is not God’s original creation of the earth and the heavens, but God’s restoration and further creation to accomplish His purpose. God judged the earth, but He came in to recover and restore and generate life, because He is a God of life!

The Spirit, the Word, and the Light are Used by God to Generate Life on the First Day

In Gen. 1:1-5 we see that God used “the instruments” of the Spirit, the word, and the light to generate life for a further creation and restoration. God did not only create all things, but He came in again after judging the earth to generate life again, with Himself as the source!

In His own way, God came as the Spirit of life (Gen. 1:2; Rom. 8:2) to generate life again by brooding over the surface of the waters. God’s revival and work of restoration always begins with the coming of the Spirit to brood over the death situation and bring in life (John 6:63a; 16:8-11)!

Then, the coming of the Spirit is followed by God’s word, who brings in light so that life may be generated. It is always in this order: the Spirit, the word, the light, with the result: life! The Spirit of God is the reality of God, and the Spirit came in to brood over the waters of death, hovering over death like a hen over her chicken….In our experience, many times the Spirit comes like “a hen” to brood over us, warming us up and overcoming any death in us for life to be generated. We need to tell Him again and again,

Come, Spirit, come again and again! Hover over me, and warm me up that life may be generated! Oh, Spirit, I need You right now!

After the Spirit comes, God speaks His word – Christ is the Word of God, the speaking of God. We need God to speak to us again and again. As Genesis 1 mentions again and again, “And God said” we need God to speak in our life time and time again. When God speaks, light is here! When God speaks, life is here!

We need God’s word as a light to our path and a lamp to our feet, as a pillar of fire and of cloud, to be with us all the time in a personal and subjective way! As God speaks, light shines – Christ is the light of the world (Gen. 1:3-5; John 1:1, 4-5; 8:12a; 9:5), the light of life, God as light shining out to bring in life. When the word comes, the light shines, and life begins.

As the Spirit broods over us and God’s word reaches us and His light shines on us, we experience God as life (Matt. 4:13-16; John 1:1-13). Then, something happens: there’s a separation of light from darkness.

The key to the experience of Christ as life, to our growth in life, and to our maturity in life depends on the separation of light from darkness (day 1), waters above from waters below (day 2), the earth and the water (day 3), and night from day (day 4). We need to have a clear separation and division between light and darkness, what is spiritual and what is natural, the spirit from the soul, God and the world, and anything that’s holy from what is common.

When Christ comes in, there’s a clear division that occurs: what is holy on one side and what is not of God on the other (2 Cor. 6:14). The more light there is, the more separation there will be. The more God speaks to us, the more the divine light shines, the more separation there is, and the more life there will be! We need such a division in us, which will save us from any other kind of “divisions” in the Body of Christ.

Lord Jesus, open our eyes to see the Bible as a book of life. Save us from reading Your word to merely find knowledge and history…Lord, show us Christ as our life and the experience of Christ as life in Genesis and in the whole Bible! May we see that God’s life is everything to You and to us for the fulfillment of Your purpose. Lord, grow in us more as life so that You may gain us for Your purpose. Come as the Spirit and brood on us. Speak Your word to us all throughout the day. Lord, shine on us with Your light. Cause there to be a separation in us between anything natural and You so that we may experience You as life and grow in life!

References and Further Reading

• Inspiration: bro. Minoru’s sharing in the message and portions in, Collected Works of Witness Lee (1969, vol. 2, The Crucial Revelation of Life in the Scriptures, ch. 1), and, The Central Thought of God (chs. 1-2), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 3, The Experience of Christ as Life Portrayed in Genesis 1.
• Further reading on this topic: Gen. 1:1-5 and footnotes in the Recovery Version.
• Similar sharing online: the Bible is a book of life, the divine life (via holdingtotruth.com).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Chapter one of Genesis: / Life is God’s one emphasis, / Showing Christ subjectively, / Step by step He grows in me.
  # The living Word is Jesus too, / God-breathed as life to us, / That we be wholly sanctified, / A Bride all-glorious.
  # Life is God the Father in Christ Jesus / As the Spirit flowing into us. / How enjoyable, this Person wonderful! / He’s our life so rich and bountiful.