Christ's death on the cross gave everyone the opportunity to enter into
the kingdom of heaven. The third day of creation was centered around those
who desire to enter the kingdom of heaven, grow in Christ and bear fruit.
These are the disciples(students) who elect to follow Jesus Christ.
The Dry Land
"Then God said, 'Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into
one place, and let the dry land appear'; and it was so." (Gen. 1:9)
As previously mentioned, the waters under the heavens are the peoples,
tribes and nations of the earth. These groups of people are called seas.
Like seas, they are always in turmoil. Like the fish of the sea, the people
move about with little or no direction. As chaos develops from this lack of
direction, the seas become stormy and frightening. The dry land allowed for
stability.
Stability was established by introducing the law. God chose a group of
people out of the seas of the world and placed them on firm ground. He gave
them laws to abide by and gave them direction through His prophets.
Foreordained
The third day of creation set the stage for the sixth day of creation. For
on the sixth day;
"...God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;..."
(Gen. 1:26)
With the arrival of the Messiah and the setting up of the Kingdom of Heaven,
man had the opportunity to be conformed to the image of God.
"...to those who are called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew,
He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,..."
(Rom. 8:28,29)
"just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us
to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good
pleasure of His will." (Eph. 1:4,5)
The people who were prepared in advance of the Messiah's arrival were called
Israelites, known today as Jews. They preserved the Old Testament
doctrine.
"This day the Lord your God commands you to observe these statutes and
judgments; therefore you shall be careful to observe them with all your
heart and with all your soul. Today you have proclaimed the Lord to be your
God, and that you will walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His
commandments, and His judgments, and that you will obey His voice. Also
today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He has
promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will
set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in
honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He
has spoken." (Deut. 26:16-19)
The doctrine of law and the prophets was based on the golden rule; do unto
others as you would have them do unto you.
"Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is
the law and the prophets." (Mt. 7:12)
This doctrine was not destroyed when Jesus appeared.
"Do not think that I came to destroy the law and the prophets. I did not
come to destroy but to fulfill." (Mt. 5:17)
The concept of land and sea is important in order to understand
Revelation 13, where the two beasts appear. The first rises from the sea,
and the second rises from the land. The first beast
shall rise from the sea of nations, and the second shall rise from within
the Jews who keep the law.
The Purpose Of The Law
In order to maintain stability, the law served two purposes. First, God's
law was designed to guide His people to Him.
"But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the
faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to
bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith." (Gal. 3:23,24)
This created hope of a greater thing to come.
The second purpose of the law was to set forth the knowledge of sin.
"...for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. 3:20)
This set forth an orderly way of life until the time in which the hope was
to be fulfilled.
The ten commandments were the foundational principles of the law. The first
commandment teaches that there is only one true God.
"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of bondage.
You shall have no gods before Me." (Ex. 20:2,3)
The second commandment teaches that the gods of the world are idols and that
that it is prohibited to to bow down to images of such gods.
"You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that
is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve
them...." (Ex. 20:4,5)
The third commandment teaches that we should not take the name of our God
lightly. His name should not be used foolishly.
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will
not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Ex. 20:7)
The fourth commandment teaches the principle of God's rest.
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do
all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In
it you shall do no work:..." (Ex. 20:8-10)
The fifth commandment teaches a person to respect and obey his parents and
those in authority.
"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land
which the Lord your God is giving you." (Ex. 20:12)
The sixth commandment teaches that human life should be highly valued.
"You shall not murder." (Ex. 20:13)
The seventh commandment teaches us to live morally and honor marriage. This
includes avoiding adultery, fornication, pornography, lust, and sexual
uncleanness.
"You shall not commit adultery." (Ex. 20:14)
The eighth commandment teaches that we should not take things that belong to
another.
"You shall not steal." (Ex. 20:15)
The ninth commandment teaches that we should not lie or bring false accusations against
others.
"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." (Ex. 20:16)
The tenth commandment teaches that we should not lust after or desire the
things that belong to our neighbor.
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your
neighbor's wife,...nor anything that is your neighbor's." (Ex. 20:17)
The first four commandments call us to the first great commandment. This
command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.
The next six commandments fall within the next great commandment, which is
to love your neighbor as yourself.
With this in mind, let us examine the elements of the dry land.
Righteousness
"And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to
its kind,..." (Gen. 1:12)
When flourishing, grass, herbs and trees are green in appearance. When
there is plenty of rain, the earth is green with vegetation. Green grass is
like the earth's garment. It covers the land like a garment covers the
body. In a time of drought, the earth is parched and brown. When God's
people were in obedience to Him, the rain fell, and the earth was green.
When in disobedience, the rain was withheld, and the earth became a parched
wilderness.
By example, in 1 Kings, Ahab provoked the Lord to anger by fabricating an
idol (verse 16:33). As a result, Elijah proclaimed a drought (verse 17:1).
Following the destruction of the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel
(verse 18:40), the rain returned (verse 18:45)
The Lord reinforces this principle from His comments in the book of Jeremiah.
"Thus says the Lord: 'Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh
his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a
shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit
the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For
he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots
by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green,
and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding
fruit." (Jer. 17:5-8)
These verses point out the relationship of a righteous person as being a
green tree bearing much fruit. It is the heart that the Lord examines.
It is by righteousness that the Lord shall judge.
"But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,..." (Isa. 11:4)
The condition of the heart is a measure of righteousness.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can
know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every
man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings."
(Jer. 17:910)
When the Pharaoh of Egypt hardened his heart against God and would not let
God's people go, the Lord struck the land with plagues and disasters of all
sorts. The eighth plague involved locusts that devoured all the green
vegetation.
"...previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be
such after them. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the
land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of
the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the
trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt."
(Ex. 10:14,15)
There appears to be a strong relationship between the color green and
righteousness. This righteousness is seen around God's throne.
"...and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an
emerald." (Rev. 4:3)
An emerald is green.
Some theologians associate righteousness with the color white. However,
white is associated with the word "salvation".
"He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments..." (Rev. 3:5)
Those who overcome shall be saved. White garments are given to those who
are saved.
Fine linen also represents righteousness. The fine linen in the garments
speaks of the righteous acts of those who inherit salvation.
"And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright,
for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." (Rev. 19:8)
When we look at the intricate pattern of creation, nature appears as a
finely woven cloth, beautiful and breath taking. The green leaves of a
fruit tree with its flowers is symbolic of a righteous person walking in the glory of God. The green leaves represent righteousness and the
flower represents being glory.
"All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass...."
(1 Pet. 1:24)
Canaan
Egypt was a sea. The Lord brought His people out of the sea and into a land
(wilderness) where no one else lived. It was here that God's people were
introduced to His law. After wandering through the wilderness, the law
brought them to Canaan; the promised land.
Canaan was a type of the Kingdom of Heaven. Canaan did not typify Eden, nor
the Kingdom of God. It was not a place where their was no sin. Prosperity
in Canaan depended on how well the people adhered to the law. The books of
Judges and 1st and 2nd Kings clearly demonstrates this. When Israel
worshipped idols, they were punished. When they destroyed the idols and set
their hearts on God, they were rewarded. Israel went through many cycles of
punishments and rewards.
"...Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the
wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought
and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one
dwelt? I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruit and its
goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an
abomination." (Jer. 2:6,7)
The Kingdom Of Heaven
Christ took Canaan into a higher dimension when He established the Kingdom of Heaven. This spiritual dimension was based on man's heart attitude towards God. It was a higher plain of
spiritual understanding of God's ways. David demonstrated this added
dimension by way of his tabernacle on Mount Zion. He introduced a new form
of worship aside from the worship still being performed in Moses' tabernacle.
"So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with
shouting and with the sound of the trumpet...And as the ark of the Lord came
into the City of David, Saul's daughter...saw King David leaping and
whirling before the Lord;..." (2 Sam. 6:15,16)
Christ's righteousness was tied to David's form of worship.
"'Behold, the days are coming', says the Lord, 'That I will raise to David a
Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute
judgment and righteousness in the earth.'" (Jer. 23:5)
Christ was the righteous branch.
David's form of worship was the key to the Kingdom of Heaven. It became
known as the key of David.
"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He
who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and
no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens':" (Rev. 3:7)
The key of David was the right heart attitude toward God.
God's people who followed the law gave the outward appearance of living
according to the attributes of God. God was not just interested in the
outward appearance of a person. He was also interested in the heart.
Matters of the heart are God's primary concern. The condition of Canaan
represented the overall condition of the heart of God's people. Genesis
opens up with this concern. The earth was void of the knowledge of God and
darkness was upon the face of the deep, that is, the heart of man.
Eden
The garden of Eden typified the condition of a person whose heart was in
tune with the heart of God. It was a land covered with lush green
vegetation.
"And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to
the sight and good for food..." (Gen. 2:9)
Adam, being in the garden and being made from this land, was an example of a
man whose heart was in the bosom of God. A righteous man was made from the
righteous ground.
"And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
(Gen. 2:7)
When Adam disobeyed God, he was cast out of the garden and the ground was
cursed.
"...Cursed is the ground for your sake;..." (Gen. 3:17)
After Adam left Eden, he no longer was living in a righteous manner. His
heart was darkened. The land outside Eden was the flesh. Adam was now
living according to his flesh. Any offering made from this ground was not
acceptable.
"And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of
the fruit of the ground to the Lord....but He did not respect Cain and his
offering...." (Gen. 4:3,5)
Being cast out of Eden, a type of the Kingdom of God, and operating
according to his own righteousness, man's offering is not acceptable to
God. It was not until after the great flood that God removed the curse from
the ground, so that man could make peace with God.
"...I will never again curse the ground for man's sake,..." (Gen. 8:21)
This set the stage for instituting the law which the Lord established
through Moses. The law set the mind on God through obedience. It was
designed to bring people back to Eden, by way of the Kingdom of Heaven; the
body of Christ. The law would serve as a tutor to bring a person to
Christ. However, this obedience didn't necessarily soften the heart
attitude toward God.
Fruit
"...and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its
kind...." (Gen. 1:12)
The tree of life was the doctrine that set the heart towards God. This tree
contains the fruit of the Spirit.
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..." (Gal. 5:22,23)
The seed within each fruit of the Spirit is the word of God. Different fruit
portray different aspects of the word of God.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was doctrine that set the heart
upon a mixture of the evil ways of the world and those of the body of Christ.
The nature of this tree was that of Satan.
"...no tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty....You were in Eden
the garden of God;...I made it beautiful with a multitude of branches, so
that all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of God....Your
heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for
the sake of your splendor;...For you have said in your heart: I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;...I will ascend
above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High....its heart
was lifted up in its height, therefore...I have driven it out for its
wickedness." (Ezek. 28,31; Isa. 14)
God had instructed Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil.
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden
you may eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not
eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'"
(Gen. 2:16,17)
The Hebrew word for knowledge in this passage is "daath". It means to have
knowledge of something in a cunning or wittingly way. It is skillful use of
knowledge. The serpent used this kind of skill to deceive Eve into eating
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
"Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord
God had made...."(Gen. 3:1)
The serpent had knowledge of this commandment. He took this knowledge and
added a little twist to it. He took good doctrine and perverted it with
evil doctrine. Eve was deceived into eating of the doctrine of truth and
error.
"But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness,
so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
(2 Cor. 11:3)
Notice how the serpent uses his cunning ways as he appeals to Eve's vanity:
"...And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of
every tree of the garden?' And the woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat
the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God said, 'You shall not eat it, lest you die.'
And the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. (Gen. 3:1-4)
The serpent's initial questioning began with the woman's knowledge of God's
word. Eve responds by quoting God's commandment to Adam. The serpent then
convinces Eve that God is deceiving her into not eating of the tree because
God is keeping something from her. In testing the word of the serpent, she
finds pleasure in the doctrine of truth and error.
Satan, being the "accuser", even defames the very character f God by saying
that God had a relationship with both good and evil.
"For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and
you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:5)
God, being perfect and not having a relationship with evil as the serpent
had said, tells man how foolish he was to think that God could have any
relationship with evil.
"Then the Lord God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to
know good and evil...."(Gen. 3:22)
In his shame, man was mockingly cast out of the garden.
Satan uses this same tactic in his attempt to draw people away from God.
The story of Adam and Eve is typical of what happens to a person when he
compromises true doctrine with the ways of the world.
At Day's End
Sin is the willful or deliberate actual breaking of God's law. Iniquity is
the weakness that is inherent in us that breeds the transgression. Prior
to Christ, man's conscience becomes alerted to the ways of darkness by way
of the law. The law served as a tutor to bring man to Christ.
Upon entering the body of Christ, the disciple's conscience will become
alerted to the ways of darkness by way of the heart of David, and his/her
prosperity will be seen in the land where he/she dwells. The rain will
fall when it is needed, and his fruit trees will bear fruit. In love,
joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
and self-control such a person will be the envy of his/her neighbors. The
seas shall suffer storms, but the righteous shall dwell in safety.
"So the evening and the morning were the third day." (Gen. 1:13)
Copyright 1998 by Dana George Cottrell