18.8.06

The Son and his Bride

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Ge 1:26-27)



On the sixth day God created the beasts of the land, however this act of creation was totally eclipsed by what would follow: the highlight, the climax, the ultimate work of his creation - the man in his own image, who would rule on his behalf.

God did his best work on that first Friday afternoon. (There's a challenge for us as we seek to reflect the creative nature of God!) It was another Friday afternoon many centuries later where the whole history of creation would find its focus once again on a hill called Golgotha.

These two events are not unrelated for the ultimate act in God's creation, reveals the ultimate purpose of creation itself. To reveal the Son of God, and celebrate his union to his bride.

Right in the beginning of the Bible we have seen many themes established that run all the way through the Scriptures, but none are as important as the one revealed on this day: It's all about Jesus. The revelation of Christ is not just the ultimate purpose of the Scriptures, but of the whole of creation itself.

But here's the marvelous and wondrous and mind-blowing thing: it's also about us. For God saw that it was not good for the man to be alone, and from his pierced side brought forth his bride. Creation finds its consummation not just in the son, but in the bride too. Not just in the revelation of Christ, but in his union with the church. How awesome that we are involved with the very reason the creation exists. Creation is not just longing to see the son, but it's on tiptoes to see the bride too - those sons of God of whom we are a part who are being transformed into the image of Christ.

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. (Ro 8:19)


And so what we see established in Genesis we see consummated in Revelation:

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; (Rev 19:7)

Just as anyone who thinks the 6th day is all about the beasts would be missing the point, so too, anyone who thinks Revelation is about 666 and the Beast has also totally missed the plot. From Genesis to Revelation it's all about one thing: the Son and his Bride. It is what all of creation exists for.

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