The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Creation and the Cross"
No bloodier verse exists in Scripture than Genesis 1:1.
"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1).
Had God never created, the Lord Jesus Christ would never have bled. The cross of Calvary would not have occurred had creation not sprang into existence by the determination of God. The suffering of the Savior would have been unnecessary had there been no creation, and thus, no cross. Pondered in the light of all Scripture, Genesis 1:1 glistens with the lifeblood of the Creator who, for our sake, became a redeemer at the highest cost to Himself.
"Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven" (Colossians 1:20).
This may explain one of the more intriguing declarations of Scripture:
"In six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed" (Exodus 31:17).
"Refreshed?" How could the almighty God who "fainteth not, neither is weary" require a resting, refreshing breath? ("napas" in the original Hebrew). Certainly, in terms of power, God never tires. In terms of heart and emotion, however, Scripture indicates otherwise. "Thou hast wearied Me with thine iniquities" said the Lord to wayward Israel (Isaiah 43:24). In this sense, the creation that would lead to a cross might have so affected God that His heart required refreshing. We do well to remember the Bible's clear teaching of God's profoundly emotional nature. None of us have ever felt any emotion that begins to reach the measure of our infinite Lord's capacity to feel. Think of the Lord Jesus, who "sweat as it were great drops of blood" in Gethsemane, a physical pathology that happens only on the rarest occasions of profound stress in human experience (Luke 22:44). Yes, God feels, and in this sense, perhaps we find at least some explanation of His rest and refreshing after the creation that portended the cross.
Certainly, the Father who knew His handiwork would one day lead to the piercing of His beloved Son's hands would find the prospect deeply wearying in heart. Even more, God would one day pour out His wrath on the Son "made to be sin for us" (II Corinthians 5:21). What travail of spirit might this have wrought in the heart of God? The Bible offers no explanation for that which surely we cannot not fathom. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God" (Deuteronomy 29:29).
The first statement of Scripture implies glories of our Lord's goodness that find their confirmation and most vivid expression throughout other portions of the Word of God. Creation led to Calvary. Perhaps this is what the Apostle John meant when he referred to the Lord Jesus as "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). In the heart of the Father, He knew that making a vast universe would result in a small and sorrowful place where His beloved Son would suffer and die at His hand, and at the hands of sinners. In this holy light, no bloodier verse can be found in the Bible than Genesis 1:1.
"We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God… My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
(Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 27:46)
Weekly Memory Verse
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
(I Timothy 1:14)
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