Covenants
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A meditation on Genesis 1
“He came into his own home” – Saint John
The first story of the holy bible tells of God building his home. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" and all that is therein. God created his home and fills it with life. And a major theme throughout the holy scriptures is God dwelling in his home with his people, his family. Implicit throughout this story is the covenant he makes with all creation, which ends in the final parts of this first story when God looks upon his creation and says "it was very good...Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation." God has created his home, the rest of the Bible is about filling it with his children, the sons of God.
In this short story, the first of sacred scripture, we have lots of principles that would be expanded on later, and ultimately fulfilled in the New Covenant with Jesus Christ. These principles are hidden in shadows that the light of Christ draws out through the wisdom of the Holy Spirit. And the gospel writer Saint John gives us the Spirit's deeper meaning on this first lines when he uses the same phrases and themes as Moses and centers the meaning on Jesus. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; and all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made."
Saint John's prologue hits on many of the same themes as Moses's first story from God - light, life, sons of God, and so on. What is lying underneath this story is that this is setting the stage for the first covenant, though it is not mentioned explicitly in the first story of holy scripture. The word covenant won't appear till a few stories (and chapters) later, but it is here undergirding the story of creation, the story of our Creator creating his home.
For those of us separated from the ancient cultures and understanding of our original genesis story, Saint John's commentary offers insight, including many verses which unlock meaning for us today, among them, "He came into his own home, and his own people received him not. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." In short, God came to his own home giving power for us to become his family, born of God.
Yes, the story of God is the story of creating a home and filling it with life, including his children whom he charges to care for his home and live in eternity together - the beatific vision. But many of us today lose the ability to understand these basic themes of home and family undergirding the sacred scriptures being so separated from the original stories - separated by seas and centuries, by land and language, by culture and community, separated by so much. And without the proper interpretative lens, we don't or won't see God's purpose clearly nor understand the stage being set for his covenants, which is ultimately about God offering humanity a way to participate with him in family life at home. Covenants are about being a part of a holy family in God's holy home.
This is one of many reasons why the sacred writers of the New Testament are so critical, they help bridge the ancient world to ours, and Saint John's commentary throughout his gospel is especially beautiful and poetical. He offers a lot of clarity in how the New and Everlasting Covenant fulfills the Old Covenants. And since our God is infinite, his stories have infinite depth. But for our focus and meditation, let us cover simply a few brief and practical points, for Saint John's epilogue written two millennia ago is possibly even more true today than when first penned, "there are many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."
The first story tells us about God's plan for his home and family. He built his home in stages, first separating light and darkness, second sea and sky, and on the third day, land and sea, which he fills with trees and plants and all kinds of seed - the seed of life. Yes, the third day ends with new life. The next three days he fills the form he gave the world with agents to execute their function, luminaries in the sky to tell time and the seasons, the sky filled with birds, fish for the seas, and creatures on land, culminating with mankind, his children made in his image and likeness, the sons of God.
To his children he gave dominion over all life, and blessed them and commanded them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food." And as the sixth day ends, he saw everything that he had made and proclaims "it was very good" before entering into the seventh day in which "God finished his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had done in creation."
A picture of paradise. On the seventh day, God enters his rest. Just like Christ rested from his passion and awaited his resurrection on the 8th day, the start of a new week. This first story is also a picture of our Creator’s original intention - a home with family and abundant life, and his children caring for it all in his image and likeness, full of life and love.
And so, mankind is uniquely made in God's image, we are his living images on earth, we are his sons and daughters dwelling in his home, and for those who noticed the hint in the description of humanity and our being given dominion, we are made to be kings. Those with eyes to see also witness our prophetic and priestly roles as well, for we are kings with dominions, prophets who receive our Father's instructions, and priests who live by the word of God, serving and protecting his creation, his home.
So, when Christ comes to restore all things, he restores us as kings, prophets, and priests. He restores our sabbath rest. Most importantly, he restores us as beloved sons of God. Though, at this point in the story, we don't have the Fall and so we don't have the Redemption nor the need for Restoration. At this point, we are simply hearing the original intention. At this point, we are simply looking at God's initial design and gleaning the glimpses of his hope for us, his children. And like most covenants with a Father and his sons, this covenant is implicit in the story, meaning it is not explicitly stating that this is a covenant between God and his creation. But this first story is hinting at what covenants are - sacred family bonds. Again, God's intention has always been to dwell in his home with his children, who are made in his image and likeness.
This is why the first story is so important, in it God imparts his original plan and hope for his creation. All the sacred covenants in our holy scriptures represent family bonds between God and his children, growing in specificity and depth and beauty as time moves forward. And before there is strife in our family, before the children disobey, there is no need to specify that there is a covenantal family bond between a father and his children. The children simply live in the Father's love.
And even though we won't hear the word covenant until the salvation story of Noah, God’s covenant with Noah is a restoration of the original covenant with mankind that we are hearing about that original covenant in the first creation story. And there are all sorts of patterns being established in these first stories of creation and mankind, in this family bond between God and his children, that give insight into their fulfillment in the story of Jesus of Nazareth. In this first story, a story of idyllic beauty and goodness, there are things hinted at that will be fulfilled in the New and Everlasting covenant, the covenant we have through God's only-begotten son, the last Adam, the Word of God.
Among those shadows of the Old brought to light in the New include the importance of baptism, the resurrection on the 3rd day, and even the trinity. Let us consider briefly how these key principles and characteristics are hidden in even this first story and foretold long before they would be everlastingly fulfilled in the New.
First, we see that life only begins to emerge once the waters recede. The sacred story is very clear, and will soon become more clear in the story of Noah the importance of baptism. But even here, in the first story of creation, we see that all life on earth emerges when the waters covering the earth recede. Out of water comes life.
Yes, this starts a pattern we see throughout the whole of the bible that life comes out of water. Children in the womb are preceded by the mother’s water, and new children of God are brought forth in baptism as a reflection of the original pattern of life from God, life comes out of water.
And so, the waters recede and the earth emerges with life on the 3rd day. This sets up another key principle of the 3rd day that we will see noted in so many stories of scripture, including the promises of the patriarchs and prophets that eternal life and everlasting healing occur on the 3rd day. Again, this is thoroughly and ultimately fulfilled in Christ's resurrection that happens on, you guessed it, the 3rd day. For Christ himself is consistent in the New covenant with the patterns by which heaven and earth were created through him, by him, and for him. He rested from his passion on the sabbath, and on the 3rd day he resurrects to eternal life.
So confident in his resurrection on the 3rd day, he publicly proclaims his resurrection throughout his ministry. In John's gospel he tells the nation's leaders, "Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up." The disciples themselves didn't understand this until after his resurrection and the coming of the holy Spirit, for only by the light of the New Covenant do the mysteries of the Old come to light, for only then are the shadows revealed, and only then do we "believe the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken."
Another one of the mysteries hidden in the Old, revealed in the New is the trinitarian mystery. Trinity, a word that is not in the bible but is used to describe what is found throughout the whole of the bible and taught by the Church across seas and centuries, throughout the millennia to all mankind. For it is there in the first Covenant with Creation, for we saw the fatherhood of God already, but we also see the Som in the word spoken by which all is created and we see the Holy Spirit when Moses writes "the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters."
This link between water and spirit will be continued throughout the bible and we will look into it later, we’ve already hinted at it with the mention of Baptism, but for now, the holy Spirit is establishing the connection in this first story in our mind's eye that will later be expanded on throughout the whole of the Law and the Prophets and in the New Covenant.
Moving forward to the second person of the trinity, when God speaks his word into creation, his eternal son listens and obeys. For the Father speaks and his Son listens and the Spirit interprets. And so, the eternal communion with God in three persons is here in the beginning, in the communion of the triune God, we have the three persons of our one God speaking, listening, and interpreting the divine word spoken.
This trinitarian mystery helps explain perplexing language that occurs when mankind is created, for God uses “we” when He says "let us make man in our image, after our likeness" and some may say that it is simply the royal speech of kings to speak in the plural “we.” But where do the kings get this example but from our triune God in whose image we are made? Where do those kings get that example from but from the great king of kings? He establishes the way to follow.
In the next line, the sacred writer continues, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." The scripture records the change, "Let us make" but "he creates." We hear plural and singular in reference to God. And so, by the power of the holy Spirit guiding his words, Moses writes this trinitarian mystery into the first story of Creation and the covenant God makes with mankind as our Father.
Yes, Moses records God's word, "Let us make" and also writes "so God created man in his own image." Plural and yet singular. Like three-in-one.
And mankind finds our fullness in God's image in being male and female. We cannot fulfill God's first word to mankind to be fruitful and multiply until we come together as male and female. We fulfill the original command of God by multiplying life, and that is when two become one flesh. God’s divine math is to become one to make three. Communion is needed to reproduce, another hint of our being made in the trinitarian image. We find our fullness in community and communion. That's when "it was very good." We, being like God, bring forth life in loving communion. And in this, we join with God to bring life into his home.
And so this image of the fullness of mankind will be made evident in the stories of the other covenants. In the covenant with creation and mankind, we have male and female, Adam and Eve. In future covenants we have Noah in the Ark, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and God's people, David's son and the Queen Mother, and Mother Mary and Jesus. The fullness of mankind is found in partnership between man and woman, for male and female he created them. It was true in the covenants of Old, it is true in the New.
Moreover, we have even a hint of the cross that will continue to be made clearer and clearer in the following covenants and stories. Trees are prominent in this first story. For trees carry the seed of life and mankind is given the plants and trees for food. For God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food." We are to live by eating from the trees that give life. Likewise, in the New and Everlasting covenant there is "the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month." From the first Covenant with Creation, God is giving us a copy and shadow of the heavenly fulfillment in Christ our Lord. But while all was made "very good", something bad happened. And that was man's disobedience. But if in the original covenant with creation humans ate fruit from the tree, it makes sense in our eternal covenant we would likewise eat fruit from a tree. In the wisdom of God, the tree of life is disguised as a cross of death.
But this should come as no surprise to those of us living fully in the New Covenant. For our God is one of transformation. He alone is able to transform death into life. A grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies and in dying bears much fruit. God’s creation testifies to the resurrection constantly, long before the final resurrection of the world’s savior that all the other resurrections testify towards. And so, in the power of God, a dead tree is planted on Calvary that bears the fruit of eternal life in the flesh of our savior, a cross of death transforming into and becoming the true tree of life.
I suppose we could continue to discuss the covenant with creation, God's home, like Saint John says, and find more and more insights for the books of the world can't contain all that could be spoken of Christ, our eternal word, but these are sufficient for now and it is time we progress to the second story of Scripture to have a deeper look into the original covenant with mankind and what went wrong. And this will reveal much more about our heavenly paradise and the Tree of Eternal Life which our souls have been yearning and searching for ever since the fall.
One last practical item before we bring this chapter to a close. With every covenant we are going to consider five things - the covenant in light of sin, sacrifice, salvation, sign, and sacrament. In this first story, we are given a picture that "it was very good." This was a picture of how things are meant to be in eternity, a loving relationship with our Father, as obedient and loving children of God, dwelling in his home forever, bearing eternal life. And so, in this first story, there is no sin, only obedience to God's command and his divine presence. And where there is no sin, sacrifice is not needed as life is abundant, which is the essence of salvation, for we are saved for life. And the sign and sacrament of God's love in creation is not only his sabbath rest but in truth all of creation. For God’s home is the visible sign of an invisible reality, the reality of God's love.
And so Saint Paul can confidently proclaim to the Romans, “for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”
So, the first story of sacred scripture is the story of paradise perfected. It is the story that declares the longing in our souls, imprinted into our DNA by our holy God, a hope and dream deep within our consciousness, our soul’s yearning, the hope that we will live forever in love in God’s presence as his loving sons and daughters.