Chaos To Purpose
God’s vision for the whole cosmos — Part 2
“The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.”
As we have discussed in the earlier chapter how ancient cosmology interprets every phenomenon as a manifestation of higher spiritual truth. To ancient Jews, the visible creation is an expression or image of the metaphysical truth.
In ancient cosmology, material reality is seen as void or meaningless when disconnected from a heavenly principle. The above verse describes the state of nothingness before the heavenly meaning is made visible through them. The creation work of the Spirit of God is to make the higher spiritual meaning expressed in the lower material reality.
The creation work of the Spirit of God is to make the higher spiritual meaning expressed in the lower material reality.
As a bird lays over a brood to incubate, the Spirit of God is about to bring forth order, meaning and purpose to the empty chaos and darkness.
Creation out of chaotic waters by the ruach (wind, breath) of God is a pattern we see across the Bible. At the beginning of the new world given to Noah and his descendants, the ark was floating on the chaotic waters below, then Noah lets a dove out of the window to check if the waters have receded. The dove hovers over the waters and returns with an olive branch.
Similarly, at the creation of Israel, God brought the wind over the Red Sea and separated the sea, creating a pathway for his people to pass through the waters to become a new nation.
When Jesus was baptised, he came out of the water and the Spirit of God rested on him as a dove. An image of a new creation that God is bringing through Christ.
To the ancient Jews, the sea is a symbol of chaos and darkness. To show that he has power over the chaos and darkness, Jesus demonstrates by walking on water on the sea of Galilee, by calming the chaotic wind and the sea during a storm.
The ancient Jewish readers of the scripture understand that chaos has returned over the earth as man rejected God’s rule. Jeremiah uses similar language to describe the judgement to come, “I looked at the earth, and behold, it was a formless and desolate emptiness; And to the heavens, and they had no light.”
But they also believed that Messiah would ultimately remove chaos. In Revelation John writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.’
In Christ, we long for a new creation, the seventh day of rest, where the material sky and land will once again be fully united, fused with heavenly purpose. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD (heaven) just like the waters (material) cover the sea.
In the following passage, we can see how God infused purpose into chaos to make it his dwelling place.
For further study:
Video: Bible Project — Genesis 1 (Notes)
Video: Bible Project — John 1
Book: Creator — The theological interpretation of Genesis 1 by Peter J Leithard
Book: The language of creation by Matthieu Pageau
Article: Creation through the lens of ancient cosmology
