The Cycle of New Creation Leading to Judgment - The Pattern of Judgments, Part I

The first seven chapters of Genesis contain a foundational prophetic cycle of Adonai's Pattern of Judgments. This pattern starts with a new creation and ends with judgment.

As you know, I approach the Bible thematically, looking for similar words, topics, phrases, events, situations, and circumstances. Once I find these connections, I compare and contrast them to see what I can learn. This process of comparison and contrast of Scriptures with similar themes is the key to understanding the Bible and its prophetic message. I’d like to share some themes with you that are presented in the first seven chapters of the book of Genesis and suggest why they are significant.

For example, Genesis 1:2a,

The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep.

describes the newly created earth as formless and void, which are the Hebrew words tohu and bohu respectively. These words, used elsewhere in the Bible, are indicative of a situation of chaos, devastation, emptiness, destruction and utter ruination! Genesis 1:2 is thematically connected to Jeremiah 4:23,

I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void and the heavens, they had no light.

I have used bold, italicized print to help you quickly see how the two verses are thematically connected through similar words. Please compare and contrast the bold, italicized words and you will quickly see how clearly they are thematically connected. I’ve taught publicly about this connection in the past. I read Jeremiah 4:23 aloud, in isolation from its context, and asked the audience to tell me what Jeremiah was describing. Immediately, hands go up and people say, “This is describing the new heavens and earth presented in Genesis 1.” You should see everyone’s reaction when I tell them that that answer is incorrect! There is a look of befuddlement on their faces, because Jeremiah 4:23 obviously uses the same words as Genesis 1:2. So how could the obvious conclusion be wrong? Let’s look at Jeremiah 4:23 in context.

19 O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, Because you have heard, O my soul, The sound of the trumpet, The alarm of war. 20 Destruction upon destruction is cried, For the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, And my curtains in a moment. 21 How long will I see the standard, And hear the sound of the trumpet? 22 “For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge.” 23 I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void; And the heavens, they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth. 25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled. 26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the LORD, By His fierce anger. 27 For thus says the LORD: “The whole land shall be desolate; Yet I will not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, And the heavens above be black, Because I have spoken. I have purposed and will not relent, Nor will I turn back from it. 29 The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up on the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, And not a man shall dwell in it.

Now, I ask you again, what is Jeremiah describing? He’s describing the chaos, devastation, emptiness, destruction and utter ruination of the land of Israel after Adonai’s judgment upon it! At this point, because of the obvious connections we’ve discovered between Genesis 1:2 and Jeremiah 4:23, we know Adonai wants us to view the destruction of Israel through the lens of the waters of chaos that existed when the heavens and earth were originally created, but why?

Another connection can be seen between the creation of the new heavens and earth and the newly regenerated earth after the flood of Noah. In fact, there’s solid thematic evidence that the entire flood account (Genesis 7-9) is patterned after the creation of Genesis 1-3. For example, note the following thematic connections between the creation of the new heavens and earth in Genesis 1 and the establishment of the newly cleansed earth after Noah’s flood.

• Genesis 8:1b (And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.) is thematically connected to Genesis 1:2 (The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.)

• Genesis 8:5 (And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen.) is thematically connected to Genesis 1:9 (Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so.)

Thus, it is certain we are to view the re-creation of the earth after Noah’s flood as another type of “creation”.

Here’s another example. Genesis 1:27-28 (So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”) is thematically connected to Genesis 9:1-7 (So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth . . . every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea . . .  They are given into your hand. 6 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.). Here we see Noah as a new Adam, where he is being commissioned exactly as Adam was. 

We can also see a connection between Genesis 2:16-17 (And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”) and Genesis 9:3-4 (Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.). In both of these passages Adonai instructed his newly commissioned representative concerning that which is proper to eat. We can view both of these instances as a prototype of the food instructions which would come much later under Moses. The sense is that Adonai’s representative will have clear instructions on what is proper to eat. 

There is also a connection concerning signs that Adonai gives after a new creation event. Genesis 2:2-3 (2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.  [Exodus 31:12-17 – the Sabbath is a sign!]) is thematically connected to Genesis 9:12-13 (12 And God said: “This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: 13 I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.). This connection invites us to view the covenant of the rainbow within the context of the sign of the sabbath given to Adam. As you can see, in all of these examples, it’s very clear Adonai intends that we make the connections! Our task is to determine what to make of these Divinely inspired associations.

The connection between the creation text and the flood text is so complete that even the occupations of our two primary regents are similar. Genesis 2:15 (15 Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.) is thematically connected to Genesis 9:20 (And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard.) By this point it should be abundantly clear that Noah is in fact a new Adam!

The themes associated with the creation account find similarities in many other narratives in the Tanakh beside the flood of Noah. For example, Genesis 2:16-17 (16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”) is thematically connected to Deuteronomy 30:15-16 (15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.")! Just as Adonai placed the choice of life and death before Adam when He gave him the choice between the trees in the midst of the garden, so likewise, He gave Israel the choice between life and death with respect to obedience to His Torah.

Adonai’s behavior in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Cain’s punishment, and the scattering of the generation of the tower of Babel, is similar to His behavior in the creation account pertaining to His fact finding mission to determine who sinned in the garden. When Adam and Eve sinned we read,

9 Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”  10 So he said,  “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  11 And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” (Genesis 3:9-11)

This verse is thematically connected to 1) Cain’s murderous actions, 2) the sins of those residing in Sodom and Gomorrah and 3) the sins of humanity at the tower of Babel as follows:

9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. (Genesis 4:9-10)

I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know. (Genesis 18:21)

5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. (Genesis 11:5)

In each instance we see Adonai performing an investigation to determine the extent of the failure of humanity.

We can also see similarities in the punishments Adonai pronounced upon those who committed sins against him. Concerning Adam we read,

So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

As you can see, Adam’s punishment was exile from his ancestral plot of land. Similarly Cain, the generation of the Tower of Babel and the nation of Israel suffered banishment/exile from their ancestral plots of land.

13 And Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” (Genesis 4:13-14)

7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth. (Genesis 11:7-9)

I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. (Leviticus 26:33)

Let’s look closer into the connection between Adam’s punishment and Israel’s. If we think deeper about these two stories we can see even more parallels. For example, Adam’s punishment for his great sin was exile/scattering from his ancestral plot of land. So likewise, Israel’s ultimate punishment for sinning against Adonai was their scattering/exile from their ancestral plot of land, Canaan. Also, notice that once Adam was banished from the garden we read the following:

22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)

In an unmistakeable allusion to Genesis 3:22-24, we read in Leviticus 26:33 that Adonai would draw out a sword against Israel as she suffered banishment, scattered amidst the nations! Is this simply coincidental? I think not. These connections are plentiful and intentional.

I would like to suggest that Genesis 1-7 presents a pattern. I call it the Pattern of Judgments. It’s a pattern that forms the basis for the rest of the narratives in the Bible, both in the Tanakh and the Apostolic writings. The pattern in Genesis 1-7 sets the stage for the events we read about in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. This pattern is repeated numerous times in many stories in the Scriptures. The pattern always has a distinct beginning, with some type of allusion to the theme of New Creation. Furthermore, the pattern always ends with the theme of Judgment. I have read through Genesis 1-7 and identified the following themes:

1. Genesis 1:1-25 – New Creation of the Universe

2. Genesis 1:26-28 – Man, God’s Image-Bearer, Commissioned to Exercise Dominion Over Creation

3. Genesis 1:29-31 – Man’s Diet

4. Genesis 2:1-3 – The Sign of the Sabbath

5. Genesis 2:4-9 – Man’s Work in His Ancestral Plot of Land

6. Genesis 2:10-14 – Natural Riches of the Creation

7. Genesis 2:15-17 – The Choice Between Life and Death

8. Genesis 2:18-25 – A Virginal Bride for the Man

9. Genesis 3:1-7 – Fall into Sin

10. Genesis 3:8-13 – Adonai Investigating Sin

11. Genesis 3:14 – The Curse on the Serpent

12. Genesis 3:15 – Enmity of the Seed

13. Genesis 3:16 – Pain in Childbirth

14. Genesis 3:17-19 – Curse on the Land

15. Genesis 3:20-21 – Acts of Redemption

16. Genesis 3:22-24 – Judgment

As you can see, this introductory article has only touched on a few of the sixteen themes presented to us in Genesis 1-7. I have found that the major narratives of the Scriptures are based upon the prevalence of these sixteen themes, prophetically guiding the course of history. In subsequent articles I will give you examples of how these themes manifest themselves in the stories of the Tanakh and the Apostolic writings. Lastly, I will show how knowledge of this Pattern of Judgments will build the proper theological foundation for understanding the events in the book of Revelation!