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CHRIST IN GENESIS Here are some of the stronger references to Christ in the book of Genesis . . . Genesis 1:1: Christ is the Creator Who created the heaven and the earth, according to John 1:1-3, 14. Also see Colossians 1:16 and Hebrews 1:2. Genesis 1:4: God “divided the light from the darkness.” As soon as Christ the light of the world (John 8:12) begins to glow in the heart of a new believer, He begins an inner dividing work, separating the clean from the unclean, spiritual things from carnal things. This naturally leads to an outer division among people. In fact, Jesus said, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division.” (Luke 12:51) John 7:43 says, “So there was a division among the people because of him.” As it was in the very beginning, division follows when true light appears. Rather than be disturbed by it and oppose it, wise Christians will understand this to be the natural course of things and accept it. Yes, some division is of God.Genesis 1:14-16: The sun being the “greater light” and the moon the “lesser light” speaks of Christ and His relationship to the church. As the moon reflects to the earth the greater light of the sun, so the church reflects the greater light of Christ to the world, thus becoming a lesser light herself. So both Christ and the church bear the title “the light of the world” (John 8:12; Mat. 5:14).Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” The fact that God made the first man “in his own image” is very instructive and points us directly to Christ. Adam, representing the entire human race, sins and loses the image of God in Genesis chapter 3. Consequently, when a son is born unto him, the Holy Spirit records that this son is born in Adam’s image, not in God’s image (Gen. 5:3). No man is born in God’s image until the Lord Jesus Christ is born, and it is expressly stated that He is the “image” of God (Col. 3:10; II Cor. 4:4; Heb. 1:3). So Christ the “last Adam” (I Cor. 15:45) is typified by the first Adam who was the first to have God’s image. The only way for men to have God’s image today is to be “born again” of His Spirit.Genesis 2:1-2: The fact that God rested on the seventh day indicates a Sabbath. Although He doesn’t reveal the Sabbath to man until well over two millenniums later (Neh. 9:14; Exo. 20:8), God does observe it Himself. In fact, the Sabbath serves as a type of Christ. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The best argument against Christians keeping the Sabbath is the fact that the Sabbath is keeping us! Our Sabbath is not a day of the week, but rather the rest for our souls that we find in Christ. Therefore, Colossians 2:16 says, “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days.” Also see Hebrews chapter four and the “rest” that is spoken of there.Genesis 2:9: The “tree of life” pictures Christ. Like Christ, it was provided by God for the purpose of offering eternal life to man. The fruit of this tree was to be “freely” eaten (Gen. 2:16), just as eternal life in Christ is to be freely received. Merely knowing about the tree wasn’t enough; man had to personally receive its fruit into his system by eating of it. He had a fair option to choose either this tree or the “tree of knowledge of good and evil,” but like men today, he chose death rather than life.Genesis 2:21: “And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof.” The typology of verse 21 is unmistakable. Here we read that God caused a “deep sleep” to fall upon Adam so that He could remove a rib from his side and create a bride. The deep sleep speaks of the death of Christ, since death among believers is likened unto sleep in the scriptures (I Ths. 4:13; John 11:11; Psa. 13:3, etc.). Just as Adam received a bride as a result of his “sleep,” Christ too receives a bride, the church, as a result of His death, burial, and resurrection. The fact that Eve came from Adam’s rib makes the type even stronger since the rib is not far from the heart. “. . . Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.” (Eph. 5:25) Like Adam, Jesus received a wound in the side (John 19:34).Genesis 3:6: Adam pictures Christ again when he willingly and knowingly eats of the forbidden fruit. We read in I Timothy 2:14 that “Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” Adam knew that his wife had sinned and that she had become a dead woman spiritually (Gen. 2:17), yet he chose to die with her (spiritually on that day, physically many years later). Rather than be separated from his bride, he stepped into the realm of sin to be like her. Likewise, Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it (Eph. 5:25). “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (II Cor. 5:21) When Jesus gave Himself for us, He gave Himself to be sin so that He might take our sins away. Knowingly and willingly, like Adam, Christ stepped into the realm of sin and death.Genesis 3:15: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” This is the first messianic promise in the Bible, the promise of the victorious seed of the woman. Since a woman has no seed, the verse obviously has prophetic reference to Mary the mother of Jesus who was miraculously given a seed by God. But this didn’t happen until after 4,000 years of God’s preservation of the seed. As we shall see throughout these studies, time and time again God takes some very measured steps in order to preserve the promised seed in the Old Testament. Actually, a three-fold plan unfolds from Genesis through Revelation: preserve the seed, then preserve the Saviour, and then preserve the saints. As for the promised seed bruising the serpent’s head, as stated in Genesis 3:15, this happened in the legal and spiritual sense at Calvary, but it will not reach total fulfillment until Christ returns. In fact, Paul confirms this in Romans 16:20 when he writes, “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.”Genesis 3:21: Typifying man’s self righteousness after they had sinned, Adam and Eve attempted to cover their nakedness with fig leaves from Adam’s garden (verse 7), but here we find God replacing the fig leave aprons with a more appropriate covering. The verse says, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” Notice how cleverly the Holy Spirit specifies that these were coats of skins. Obviously, an animal had to shed its blood and die so that Adam and his wife could be reconciled to God and live. The animal was likely a lamb (Rev. 13:8; Pro. 27:26), foreshadowing the “Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29) because “without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Adam’s fig leaves represented self righteousness, not blood, so they were rejected.Genesis 4:2-8: Abel, the first shepherd in the Bible, turns out to be a great picture of Christ the “good shepherd” (John 10:11). Rather than offer to God the self-righteous works of his own hands, like Cain, he offers an acceptable blood sacrifice by offering the “firstlings of his flock” (verse 4). Being accepted by God, like Christ, he is called “righteous Abel” by none other than Jesus Himself (Mat. 23:35). Also, like Jesus, Abel was murdered by wicked hands. This, of course, was an attempt by Satan to destroy the promised seed and prevent Christ the Redeemer from being born.Genesis 6:14: In several ways, the ark itself serves as a great type of Christ in chapters 6 through 8. The first comparison is found in the fact that the ark was God’s provided means of salvation. There weren’t several ways to be saved from the coming judgment, not even two or three ways. God provided one way only. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) Those who refused to board the ark perished in their sins; those who refuse to receive Christ will perish in their sins.Genesis 6:16: The ark had only one door, so there is only one way of accessing salvation through Christ: through faith only. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” One does not gain salvation by joining a church that bears Christ’s name or by doing religious things in His name. One must receive Christ by grace through faith. There is no other access to Christ’s salvation.Genesis 7:1: The invitation to “Come thou and all thy house into the ark” reminds us of the New Testament call for men to come to Christ and bring their families with them. In Revelation 22:17, the Spirit and the bride say “Come,” and Paul and Silas gave the command to “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” in Acts 16:31.Genesis 7:16: The fact the “the LORD shut him in” after Noah and his family boarded the ark is a beautiful type of God sealing us with His Spirit until the day of redemption once we enter into the body of Christ (Eph. 4:30; II Cor. 1:22).Genesis 8:4: Notice that the ark, like Christ, had a first and second coming. The first time the ark touched the earth was when it was built on flat and dry ground, picturing Christ the root out of a dry ground (Isa. 53:2). The second time the ark touched the earth was on a mountain, picturing Christ returning to establish His glorious kingdom (Dan. 2:44; Isa. 9:7, etc.).Genesis 11:10: Immediately after God finishes His comments on Babel, He gets back on the subject of Shem’s descendents in 11:10: “These are the generations of Shem.” Yet, nothing more is said about the descendants of Ham or Japheth because God is interested in the promised seed which is preserved through the Shemites.Genesis 15:5-6: Abram’s faith that God would multiply his future seed as the stars of heaven is rewarded with imputed righteousness: “he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” This serves as a type of the imputed righteousness that the believer receives when placing his faith in Christ. Paul makes this application in Romans 4:1-8, and he also refers to Psalm 32:1-2: “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Righteousness is not what a sinner learns and uses to earn salvation; righteousness is what God imputes or accounts to a sinner who places his faith in Christ’s finished work on Calvary. As Romans 10:3-4 emphasizes, “For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”Genesis 17:10: Circumcision is first mentioned in this verse, and it’s important to see that it is instituted in connection with the promised seed, which, of course, eventually leads to Christ who introduces a totally new kind of circumcision: “In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” (Col. 2:11) The fact that circumcision was performed on the eighth day makes the type even stronger since eight is the number of new beginnings in Biblical numerology. One who has received the circumcision of Colossians 2:11 has indeed experienced a new beginning. This was foreshadowed by Abram’s new beginning as he entered into a covenant with God and even received the new name Abraham.Genesis 21:10: “Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.” In Galatians 4, Paul likens the two sons Ishmael and Isaac to the two natures of the believer in Christ, the flesh and the spirit. He writes in Galatians 4:23, “But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.” As Sarah had the bondwoman cast out, Paul recommends the same for the flesh: “Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Gal. 4:30-31)Genesis 22:2: Genesis 22 is one of those chapters that just overflows with material related to our Saviour. It starts in verse 2 with the obvious reverence to Christ “thy son, thine only son.” Abraham here pictures God the Father who is willing to give His only Son as a sacrifice (John 3:16, etc.). The location of the sacrifice is also interesting: mount Moriah. This later becomes the location of the temple where regular sacrifices were made (II Chr. 3:1), all of which point to Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.Genesis 22:3-6: Abraham took Isaac, two young men, and the wood for the sacrifice and went “unto” mount Moriah. So, the ass carried the wood “unto” the mount. Then the wood was laid upon Isaac, and he carried it on into the mount. The picture is crystal clear. Simon the Cyrenian was compelled to carry the wooden cross of Jesus “UNto” Golgotha (Mark 15:21-22), but Jesus carried it onward “INto” Golgotha (John 19:17).Genesis 22:5: Abraham’s statement that he and Isaac would go and worship and then “come again” shows that he believed that God would raise up Isaac after he had slain him for sacrifice, and this is confirmed in Hebrews 11:19. So, in Genesis chapter 22, we have an “only son” being offered in faith of a future resurrection.Genesis 22:8: Abraham’s statement that “God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering” has a twofold prophetic reference to Christ. First, God the Father indeed does provide the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Then, secondly, God provides “himself” a lamb in the sense that God “himself” becomes the Lamb at Calvary!Genesis 22:13: The “ram caught in a thicket by his horns” also makes an interesting picture of Christ because the thicket would have had briars and thorns, corresponding to the crown of thorns which Christ wore.Genesis 24:65: The bride meets the bridegroom in the field, so the church meets Christ in the air (I Ths. 4:16-17). Also notice that she didn’t want to meet him uncovered: “she took a vail, and covered herself.” So, one of the final warnings to the church before she is called out to meet the Lord is for her to buy some “white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” (Rev. 3:18)Genesis 29:32-35; 30:18-21: A very interesting thing begins unfolding with Leah and her children, something that points us to Christ Himself. As the reader might know, the number seven is a favored number of God. When God chooses to divide this number, He usually divides it 4/3, picturing 4,000 years in the Old Testament and 3,000 in the New, or He divides it 6/1, picturing 6,000 years of human history before Jesus returns, then a 1,000 year kingdom (Rev. 20:4-6). Interestingly enough, Leah gives birth to seven children—six boys and then one girl—and the names of all seven point to Christ. Note the following: (1) Rueben means see or behold a son; so the sinner must see God’s Son as His only hope. (2) Simeon means hearing; so the sinner must hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. (3) Levi means joined; so the sinner must be joined to Christ by becoming a member of His body (Eph. 5:30) (4) Judah means praise; so the new believer in Christ is to continually praise Him (Heb. 13:15). It is also interesting that of all the tribes of Israel, Christ came from Judah. (5) Issachar means a hire; so the believer works for the Lord and is rewarded for doing so. (6) Zebulun means dwelling; so the believer dwells in Christ with his affection on things above (II Cor. 5:17; Col. 3:2). (7) Dinah means judgment. Being a female, she is different from the first six, which were all boys. This points to the coming Millennial Kingdom of Christ when things will be far different from the previous 6,000 years. The meaning of Dinah’s name corresponds to the fact that the kingdom age will be a time of righteous judgment in the earth. As Isaiah 2:4 says, “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”Genesis 37: Genesis chapter thirty-seven introduces Joseph as the greatest type of Christ in the Bible. For a more detailed study of this subject, we recommend Arthur Pink’s Gleanings in Genesis. In this chapter, and in the following chapters, we will point out some of the stronger points only.Genesis 37:3: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children . . .” This is obviously a type of the Father’s love for His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.Genesis 37:4-5: “And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him . . . he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. and could not speak peaceably unto him.” The Jews were “the brethren” of Jesus, yet the more he spoke the more they hated Him.Genesis 37:24: “And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.” So Jesus was placed in a tomb. Yet, like Joseph, he didn’t remain there (vs. 28). The fact that there was “no water” in the pit points us Christ’s suffering in such passages as John 19:28 and Psalm 16:10.Genesis 37:28: “They . . . sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites.” So Christ was sold for thirty pieces of silver (Mat. 26:15, Zch. 11:12-13).Genesis 39:4: “And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.” So it is with Jesus; the Father has placed all into his hands.Genesis 39:17-20: “And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, which thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me . . . And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison,” Like Christ, Joseph was falsely accused and arrested. Also, like Christ, he was “numbered among the transgressors” (Isa. 53:12)Genesis 41:40: “Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou” Christ the King of Kings is here pictured as the ruler over the Father’s house. Also, Pharoah’s words about his throne point to Christ’s coming Lordship over the world while maintaining the right relationship with the Heavenly Father (Rev. 3:21, 12:15).Genesis 41:43: “And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.” Joseph riding in the second chariot reminds us of Christ being the second member of the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Also, as with Christ, men had to “bow the knee” before him. Philippians 2:10 says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.”Genesis 41:46: The fact that Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharoah reminds us of the age of Christ when he began his public ministry: “And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age . . .” (Luke 3:23)Genesis 42:1-2: “Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.” Just as a sinner today must hear the Gospel of Christ (Rom. 10:17, Jacob “heard” that there was corn in Egypt. But hearing wasn’t enough. It would be necessary to go down to Egypt to get the corn. This speaks of the humility, the broken spirit that the sinner must experience before receiving Christ, the “corn” that fell to the ground and then brought forth much fruit (John 12:24).Genesis 42:6: “. . . Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.” In addition to being a fulfillment of the prophetic dream of Genesis 37:9-10, this event also foreshadows the day when our Lord’s brethren the Jews will turn to him and bow before him.Genesis 42:25: “Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.” Joseph’s refusal to accept money from his brethren pictures Christ’s refusal to accept Israel in her self righteousness. Salvation is a free gift.Genesis 43:28: “. . . And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.” As pointed out in 42:6, the Jews will one day bow before Christ.Genesis 45:3: “And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.” So men will be troubled at the presence of Jesus Christ when they meet him in judgment (Rev. 20:11-15)Genesis 45:5: “. . . God did send me before you to preserve life.” As mentioned earlier, this pictures Christ, the one who gives eternal life and preserves those who receive it.Genesis 46:3-4: “. . . fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.” Like the sinner who hesitates to receive Christ, Jacob hears the good news, but he’s afraid to act on it. So he is assured that it’s the right thing to do and that God will go with him.Genesis 47:25: “ . . . Thou hast saved our lives . . .” Jesus Christ saves lives today.Genesis 49:8-12: “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.” The whole prophecy has reference to Christ, the “lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5), the rightful heir to God’s scepter. “Shiloh” points to Christ as the peaceful one, or, as Isaiah 9:6 states it, the “Prince of Peace.” The “colt” is found in Matthew 21:5, and “his clothes in the blood of grapes” points to Isaiah 63:1-6 and Revelation 19:13, both of which speak of Christ at the Second Coming.Genesis 50:17-20: “And Joseph wept when they spake unto him . . . his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not . . . ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” All of this matches Christ and the Jews perfectly. Like Joseph, Jesus wept because of the unbelief of his brethren (John 11:35). Eventually, they do fully trust him and become his servants. On a number of occasions Jesus uttered the words “fear not,” and he was used of God to “save much people alive.”