via: bondservantbibleclass

I’d like to start by offering a quote from a dear man who lived his life to serve his Messiah.  He was faithful to his call, and is now gone to be with his L-rd.  Zola Levitt once said, “In Judaism, the commentaries of sages from all the generations have superceded the power of the original.  In some branches of Christianity, the saying and the exploits of certain saints and wise adherents have also overcome the Scripture.  We must take care to read the Scripture as is, and to apply the best knowledge to the task of understanding it.”  Amein.

Genesis 1:1

(1)    “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

It is by no accident that the Bible begins with the Creator in view.  Not only in view, but is suggestive of His presence throughout all of the Torah, and indeed, is all about Him being revealed, His Will being revealed, and received.  It is important to note that the Torah was given to fallen man.  The purpose of the Torah was to teach the Will of G-d to fallen man.  Torah was not given to righteous man (the importance of seeing this will be brought out as we go.)  Torah was never meant to establish any righteousness in fallen man, but to show him his unrighteousness.  The knowledge of Sin did not dawn on the heart and mind of man till the Law was given.  Torah cannot change the nature of man, only the Creator can do this.  Torah is a teaching, it is meant to lead us to a place of understanding, and, as we shall see, to a person, even Messiah.  This teaching/understanding is about G-d Himself.

In the beginning of G-ds creating in this realm of existence, He is making it known His presence as all encompassing in everything that is created.  Nothing is created that is not created by Him and expressive of His nature.  His presence is there, but Nature is not G-d, it is an expression of His nature, there is knowledge of the Creator in His creation (Romans 1:20, “For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead”.)

In this first verse of the Torah, G-d is showing, as well, that He exists before creation, and is not apart of the creation.  This is the beginning of this existence in this universe.  Through all of the Universe all of the material, the dust of the universe, is the same.  Man was created of the dust, not only of the earth, but of the universe.  The heaven and the earth in this realm, in this arena of life, is all of the same substance.

I once made the statement many years ago (20 or so) to a men’s group, that when Yeshua returns, and after a thousand years of Kingly reign, a new heaven and new earth replace the old, that even the universe, cloaked in darkness, will be light. I was laughed at for this.  I still believe this though, that the universe will be created, as being re-born at the dawn of eternity, in light, not darkness, and when the redeemer issues in eternity, all of creation will be a new-born creation in light, not darkness.  The stars will lose their shine in comparison of the light of the Morning Star.  Creation will shine, just as the New City coming to earth.  The New City is made of the RENEWED material that ALL creation will be restored to, in the BEGINNING of Eternity.  Glory to HaShem.  Even man will shine in his new body.  A body of light, as the angels of G-d shine.  Darkness will be EXPELLED from all of creation.  We will look at this much closer in the weeks to come.

Why was darkness in the beginning of this creation?  I believe it was to reveal a truth of G-d.  That creation itself is not G-d.  Planets are not G-d.  Trees’ are not G-d, MAN is not G-d, and they produce no light.  The elements of the Universe are not G-d.  He is Creator of all material, all DUST of the Universe, but He is not the dust.  This is why creation was dark.  Not evil, but darkened.  It did not produce light on its own.  This was established from the beginning of creation.  G-d is there, in the beginning, G-d created the heaven and earth, but this creation was not Him.

I do not see the heaven here as the dwelling place, or realm of the angels.  This is not the beginning of the heavenly, Angelic realm, but that of this universe we have our life in.  The heaven in Genesis 1:1 has to do with space of the Universe, or just Space, where the planets and stars dwell, yet, are of the same substance as all of creation, including man.  In the beginning, G-d created the heaven (space) and then….. to finalize it, to bring a center to it, and a purpose, he capped it with the earth.  All of the universe was created SOLELY for the earth, and life on earth.  The Universe was made first, on the first day, to support the earth, also created on the first day.  There is no other purpose for the Universe to exist other than LIFE on Earth. although the earth, as in the next verse, is formless and void at this point.  The Universe may still be expanding, but at a much slower rate than at the beginning of creation, but expanding solely for our benefit.  The purpose of creation is still exactly the same as ever it was.

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In the weeks to come the posts will be much more lengthy at times.  Lesson 1 of this Torah study is purposed to get us flowing in a certain direction, to a certain view of Torah, as G-d being the center, as He who reveals Himself in, and through, His Word.   I hope you will find this style of writing/teaching, helpful, and a blessing. I will be adding footnotes where applicable.

I hope you will feel free to add your own comments.  This site is for you and I to discuss, and explore, and learn, with one another.  It is my great joy to study the Torah with you.  I am a student of the Torah as in the first 5 books of the Bible, and love the Torah.

Blessings

In Yeshua

Mark Jennings