Do you struggle to understand the creation story? If so, perhaps you might like to consider a symbolic viewpoint, which is really quite simple. No years, no science - just applying the message in a practical way that everyone can understand.
Firstly, we can summarise the story of Genesis chapter one like this:
A simple overview. But what is the message?
Light
- The very first action in the Bible story is the separation of light from darkness.
- Jesus said He was the Light of the World (John 8:12).
- The first thing that anyone must do is to be able to see Jesus and to recognise Him as the world’s true light.
Water
- When we have taken this step, the Scriptures command us to be baptised (immersed in water).
- Paul wrote that we are buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we to should walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
Vegetation
- Jesus rose from the grave on the third day and became the first-fruits of them that slept (1 Corinthians 15:20).
- The first command to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and fill the earth (Genesis 1:28).
- This is our growing stage, and we can think of the parable of the sower that Jesus told to see how our response to the message can bring forth fruit (Matthew 13).
- We look to Jesus to help us in this process (it takes a lifetime!) and we can pray that He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed that is sown and increase the fruits of our righteousness (2 Corinthians 9:10).
- We seek to produce spiritual fruit of love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Light and darkness
- The light of the Sun is the source of all light. Jesus is the Sun of Righteousness (and is the new dawn over the whole earth (Malachi 4:2)).
- The moon reflects the light of the Sun, and the Christian is to reflect the light of Jesus in a world of darkness. We can only illuminate just a little of the world.
- Just as the moon waxes and wanes, so we go through our own cycles as we seek to reflect the light of Jesus (Ephesians 6:12).
- The moon is the power that pulls in the tides, and in Scripture, the nations are often pictured as the seas. Our mission is to preach the good news of Jesus to the nations, so that people might recognise the light of the world, be baptised, and be saved (Mark 16:15).
Sea creatures
- Genesis suggests that these were sea monsters or whales, whereas the Hebrew text implies these might otherwise be called serpents or dragons. So here is a picture that we see throughout the Scriptures of the seas being symbolic of the nations as an enemy of God, in the deep dark oceans where the light cannot dwell. This symbol works of several levels:
- Personal - he (Leviathan) makes the deep waters boil like a pot (Job 41:31).
- Militant - great beasts came up out of the sea (Daniel 7:3).
- Religious – the judgement of the harlot who sits on many waters, a scarlet beast full of blasphemy (Revelation 17:1-6).
Mankind
- The pinnacle of the creation story is the creation of man and woman, made in the image and likeness of God - no other created thing has this characteristic (Genesis 1:26-27).
- The ultimate aim of God is to welcome men and women into His Kingdom.
- Come you blessed of my Father, says Jesus, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).
And on the 7th Day, God blessed and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made (Genesis 2:1-3).