"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 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. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day." (Gen 1: 1-3)

This passage of scripture, probably one of the most widely quoted and referenced yet the depth of which so least understood. As I contemplate the work and suffering and beauty of Jesus on the cross, I am drawn to Him and the depth of love and intimacy he desires to have with us. God looked at an amorphous ball of gas, dark and empty (void) of any material that would distinguish it as a planet and His Spirit, His Essence, hovered over its surface and it somehow entered into its essence and gave it light and life.

At that very moment of creation, God breathed life into our earth and its form began to emerge from the emptiness of its previous existence. Just like when the Holy Spirit does a work in one who believes and he is born of water and the Spirit; new life had begun in the ball of gas now called Earth.

He also did something that would take even more time to realize, He "...separated the light from the darkness." The emptiness and void which had been the soul of the ball of gas and debris was now filled with God's Essence, God's Creative Force, His Holy Spirit and now (only now) would the darkness stand separately from the light. No longer would it keep the material dead and lifeless. Light had invaded the emptiness separating the darkness from it forever.
As we contemplate the death of Jesus this week, let us consider this creation event. God’s Spirit in the person of Jesus Christ hanging on a cross yet his healing Spirit hovering over our own dark souls, our emptiness, our formless lives. Consider the transformation we experienced as we put our trust in the gift of salvation in Christ; how our lives began to shed the darkness, the emptiness became full and our lives began to transform into the image of Jesus. The recreation of our lives being reborn in Christ Jesus is an image of how all things began and also an image of a beaten and bloodied body hanging on a cross that would rise from the grave in three days fully alive and available to transform you and me into His image.
Praise God for our Savior and the power of His creativity and his infinite mercy!
Happy Resurrection Day!