Hello, friend, glad to see you back for our next study.
In the previous lesson, we saw the gospel as foreshadowed in Genesis chapter 1: the earth was empty, in darkness, and buried in “the Great Deep”, the waters of chaos. On the third day, the earth rose up out of the water and began producing fruit.
Similarly, Jesus Christ came to this earth and emptied Himself for us, entered the darkness to rescue us, died to free us, and on the third day rose from the dead to justify us.
Just as a reporter might “leak the details” of an upcoming story, even so, all through the Old Testament God “leaks the details” of the upcoming mission of His Son to rescue His people.
We closed out our last lesson with thankfulness for the key that God has given us to understanding every passage of the Bible that we read; it is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God desires that we believe this story, that we actively put faith in it, so He reveals that story to us over and over in His Word.
God’s Word also acts as a mirror for us (James 1:22-24). We can and should look into it and see ourselves. So, in this lesson, we are going to return to the story of creation in Genesis 1, but let’s consider it from a different perspective today:
Genesis 1:1-3 NLT In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (2) The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters. (3) Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
Question 1. Noting the same creation sequence as in the previous lesson, that the earth was empty, in darkness, and buried in the “Great Deep”, how can you see yourself in this description?
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Carnell writes, "Depression makes you feel like you are in a deep dark place of emptiness."
Tori writes, "I was in so much darkness, I felt empty, I felt I had no spirit in me, I felt buried under my pain and my circumstances. Note I speak in past tense-- as God has already brought me to the light on Day 14 of this lesson. Glory to Him!"
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
The New Testament tells us that all believers are “new creations in Christ”, and so as we view creation we can also see the exact work that God does in the heart of everyone who believes.
First, as we said in the previous lesson, the creation was:
Empty. There were no trees, plants, flowers, animals, or humans. And just like that, we who will become “new creations” in Christ are at first empty. Without Christ. We do not have His Spirit within us and so we are empty.
This is the condition of all people by birth. For me, this emptiness led me to attempt to fill myself with things, with people, with all kinds of wrong activities. Because I was empty I turned to movies, cars, pets, sensuality, weight-lifting, religion, alcohol and drugs, food, money, family, sports, ministry activity, work, TV shows, books, exercise, friends, vacations, and many other things.
Question 2. Looking back on your life, can you see this same emptiness? If so what have you done to try to fill yourself?
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Carnell writes, "I used school, pornography, religion, ministry to try and fill the emptiness inside."
Tori writes, "Yes completely. I tried to fill myself up with sports, diet to obtain the perfect body, vanity, pride, scholastic efforts, success, monetary gain, relationships and attention from the opposite sex."