The entire Bible is a book of life, and Genesis, in which all the seeds of the divine truth are sown, is focused on life. Many things mentioned in Genesis chapter 1 reveal Christ as life. God’s restoration and further creation, starting from the second part of verse 2, is a matter of the generating of life and the growth in life. The Spirit, the word, and the light coming, and the three separations were the requirements for generating life (Gen. 1:2b-9). Following this the grass, herbs, and fruit trees were generated, signifying the believers’ initial experience of the divine life in Christ.
We need to ask a question: After initially receiving the divine life in regeneration, how does this life grow within us? The answer can be found in Genesis 1:14-19 with the appearance of the fourth day light-bearers. The sun, moon, and stars were a more solid and definite light than the light of the first day. These fourth-day lights were for the growth in life, for on the fifth and sixth days there was a progression from the plant life to the animal life—the fish, the birds, the cattle, the creeping things, and the animals of the earth. This growth in life hinges on the lights of the fourth day. The sun signifies Christ and the overcoming saints (Mal. 4:2; Luke 1:78-79; Matt. 4:16; Eph. 5:14; Matt. 13:43a); the moon is a figure of the church (S.S. 6:10), which reflects the light of Christ as the sun (Phil. 2:15); and the stars again signify Christ and the overcoming saints (Num. 24:17; 2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 22:16b; Dan. 12:3; Rev. 1:20). This reveals that in order to experience the growth in life, we need to contact Christ, the church, and the overcoming saints. We need these lights of the fourth day—the sun, the moon, and the stars—for the growth in life. Eventually, we see the maturity of life in the highest created life, man, who was created in the image of God to express God and was given dominion to represent God with His authority (Gen. 1:26). This is for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:9-11).
Further Reading:
Witness Lee, Life-Study of Genesis, Messages 3-7 (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
Holy Bible Recovery Version, all verses mentioned in this post and their corresponding footnotes (Nook, Kindle, iBooks, Print).
(Most references in the Further Reading can also be viewed on www.ministrybooks.org.)