As we enter into a more crystallized study of the book of Genesis in our Holy Word for Morning Revival, we want to be emptied and unloaded in our spirit so that we may receive a fresh revelation from the Lord, and we want to be pure in heart so that we may see this revelation and be infused with it.
In Genesis, we see the origin, the “birth” of the divine truths in the holy word. All the seeds of the divine truths which are developed in the Bible are sown in the book of Genesis.
Genesis sows the seeds of the truths, the succeeding books develop and explain these truths, and the harvest of all these seeds with their development is in the book of Revelation. The first matter that we want to see as we enter into a deeper study of Genesis is the central thought of God.
The Central Thought of God as Seen in Gen. 1-2 and Rev. 21-22
If you read the Bible carefully you will realise that there are four chapters in the entire Bible which correspond to each other, which speak of the same thing, and which show God’s original intention and its final consummation.
In Gen. 1-2 we see the picture of God’s creation and His original intention even before sin entered the picture, and in Rev. 21-22 we see the fulfillment of God’s intention after sin is completely eliminated. God’s central thought is apart from sin.
The vision presented to us in these chapters of the Bible is the greatest and the highest in the Bible. We should not take it for granted, but we should open to the Lord to see God’s entire economy as revealed in Gen. 1-2 and Rev. 21-22. Here are some specific aspects of God’s central thought in these four chapters:
- Image and Dominion: In Gen. 1-2 we see that God’s eternal purpose is to have a man in His image expressing Him and representing Him, and in Rev. 21-22 we see a holy city comprised of all God’s people fully expressing God and representing God.
- A Vessel to Contain and Express God: In Gen. 2 we see man as a vessel to contain God, having a human spirit as a receptacle and receiver of the divine life, and in Rev. 21-22 we see the New Jerusalem as a great corporate vessel united, mingled, and incorporated with the Triune God.
- The Tree of Life: In Gen. 2 we see the tree of life, and in Rev. 21-22 we also see the tree of life in the holy city. The tree of life is outside of man in Gen. 2, but in Rev. 21-22 it is in the New Jerusalem through God’s people eating of it throughout the ages.
- The River of Life: In Gen. 2 we see a river flowing toward all the earth, and in Rev. 22 we see the river of water of life, the flow of life in the New Jerusalem.
- Precious Materials: In Gen. 2 we see three precious materials (gold, bdellium, and onyx stone), and in Rev. 21 we see that the holy city is composed of gold, pearl, and precious stones.
- The Wife: In Gen. 2 we see Eve as a counterpart, a wife, to match Adam, and in Rev. 21-22 we see the New Jerusalem as the Bride, the wife of the Lamb, the bridal city, to match Him as His counterpart.
God Accomplishes His Purpose Through His Life
How does God accomplish His purpose? As seen from the very first chapters of the Bible to the end of the Bible, God accomplishes His purpose through His life.
For God today to gain His eternal purpose and fulfill His central thought, we need more of His life! We need more ZOE, more of the divine life! Here are some points related to the divine, as revealed in the Bible:
1. God the Father is the Source of Life (John 5:26). God the Son is the Embodiment of life (John 1:4). God the Spirit is the Giver of Life (1 Cor. 15:45b). Right now, the Triune God is in our spirit to give us life. It is the Spirit who gives life (John 6:63), and the words which God speaks to us are Spirit and are zoe! We are not ministers of the letter but of the Spirit, because the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6).
2. The Building up of the Body of Christ is the Growth in Life. In Eph. 2:21 we see that all the building is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, and this growth is the building up of the Body of Christ! If we want to build up the Body, we need to grow in life.
3. The Overcomers are the Receivers of Life, the Enjoyers of Life, and the Dispensers of Life! The husband and the wife are heirs of the grace of life, enjoying the Triune God as their life and life-supply (1 Pet. 3:7).
The stewardship of the grace of God – God’s life – was given to me for you (Eph. 3:2) – we need to be dispensers of life for others’ enjoyment. If we see a brother sinning, we need to pray and minister life to them (1 John 5:16). We are receivers of life, enjoyers of life, and dispensers of life!
4. The Body of Christ is the Fullness of Life! Christ is the Head over all things to the church, which is His Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all (Eph. 1:22-23). The riches of life are taken in and enjoyed by all the saints, and we together become the fullness of life, the Body of Christ.
5. The New Jerusalem is a City of Life! The Father is the light of life, the Son is the tree of life, and the Spirit is the river of life (see Rev. 22:1-2, 5). Everything in the New Jerusalem is life!
6. Ministry is the Overflow of Life! The Lord calls us to come to Him and drink, and out of our innermost being shall flow rivers of living waters (John 7:37-39). When we drink of Him, there will be a flow of life, and this is the ministry.
God’s Desire and Purpose – His Central Thought
What is God’s central thought? God’s desire and purpose, His central thought, is to have a corporate man to express Him in His image and to represent Him with His authority.
We see this in God’s creation of man in Gen. 1:26, where the Bible clearly tells us that man was created in God’s image and according to His likeness (to express God), and he was given dominion over all the earth (to represent God).
How can God’s central thought be accomplished? It is by God’s life coming into man, filling man, and doing everything in man. God desires us to take Him into us as the tree of life so that we may live because of Him (John 6:57).
We need to allow the Lord to dispense Himself into us that we may be conformed to His image. He does this by putting us into a particular environment, where ALL THINGS (Rom. 8:29) work together for good. All the things around us work together to sink us into our spirit, that we may contact God, receive God, and assimilate God, so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ!
So then whenever the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, we behold the Lord with an unveiled face, we reflect Him, and we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as from the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:16-18).
This is the way that God will accomplish His purpose – by His own life in us. If we have God’s life and are filled with His life, this life in us will express God spontaneously and unconsciously.
Just as the life we received from our parents is spontaneously and unconsciously expressing a man (and more precisely, our parents), so the life we have received from God through regeneration expresses God effortlessly and automatically.
We simply need to make sure we receive God’s life, eat Him as life, grow in life, and are filled with His life, and we will express God and represent God.
Lord, may we focus on nothing else but on being good receivers of the divine life. Keep us eating You as the tree of life. Lord, grow in us. May we grow in life so that we may express You and represent You. Save us from trying to fulfill Your purpose by ourselves or in our natural strength. May You gain many believers who regularly and constantly eat Christ as the tree of life to express God and represent God!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: the lists of points are from bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message, and the sharing is inspired from portions in, Life-study of Genesis (msgs. 6-8, 10), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week / msg 1, The Central Thought of God.
- Further reading: The Vision of God’s Building, ch. 1; The Central Thought of God, ch. 3; The Central Line of the Divine Revelation, msgs. 5-6.
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lo, the central thought of God / Is that He be one with man; / He to man is everything / That He might fulfill His plan.
# In the Holy Bible / Is a central line, / Truths and revelation / Span the bridge of time. / ’Midst the supplemental / And the “branch” or “leaf“ / Is the Christ anointed / For eternity.
# The tree of life the center is / Of God’s eternal, perfect plan, / Denoting God in Christ as life / To be received as all by man.
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