We begin our study for the year with that wondrous first book of all Scripture, Genesis. Familiar as we are with it in many ways, each further perusal seems to unfold to us depths which we have not fathomed, and to invite to a fuller examination of that which can only yield " things new and old."

Genesis is not a dispensational book in the ordinary sense of the word. It is in one sense beyond all dispensation, reaching back to the very sources of creation, and forward, in type, to the final consummation of blessing for this earth.

The first two chapters stand alone, solemnly separated from all the remainder of the book-we might truly say, from all the rest of Scripture-by the awful fall which is narrated in the third chapter. To man unfallen, or, we might indeed say, to the whole creation prior to the fall, but two chapters of Scripture are given. How significant this is as showing that all revelation must be on the basis of redemption! All God's ways for time and eternity must, also rest upon that eternal foundation. Thus, in the very meagerness of what we have prior to the fall there is a suggestion that redemption is no after-thought with God; that, to manifest Himself, He not only foreknew the need of redemption, but it was in a certain sense an essential element of that revelation. The creature cannot possibly stand alone. He must have a link with his Creator other than mere dependence. The entire book, then, is divided into these two portions:

1. (Chaps, 1:and 2:) The original creation of the heavens and the earth; formation of this world for man's abode; the creation of man, and his authority over all the works of God.

2. (Chaps, 3:-50:) Man's fall and separation from God, and the divine provisions of grace typically brought in.

The first division, though brief, as we have seen, is ' pregnant with meaning. As has been beautifully brought out, the seven days of creation are typical also of the stages of the new creation, both in the individual soul and dispensationally.

The first verse is usually, and probably correctly, explained as describing that original creation of all matter apart entirely from the seven days which were devoted to the preparation of the earth for the habitation of man. " In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Between this verse and what follows is sufficient room for all the myriads of years claimed by geology for the successive periods recorded in the rocks. Typically, it is very suggestive that such a break should come between the first verses and the remainder. God originally created man upright, but ruin has come in; and just as the earth was without form, and void, ere God began to prepare it for man's abode, so too man was without life, and in utter darkness toward God, ere the work of new creation was introduced.

Very briefly, we will mention each day's work, with its personal and dispensational meaning :

FIRST DAY. The creation of light, answering to new birth in the individual and to the age before the Flood, when the light of God's promise of the woman's Seed, and blessing through Him, was all that man had.
SECOND DAY. The firmament, individually corresponding to the separation between the two natures – that which is born from above, and that which is beneath. The waters above are sweet and fertilizing. Those beneath are but the bitter waters of death. In every newborn soul these two natures exist-" that which is born of the flesh," and "that which is born of the Spirit."

Dispensationally, this answers to the period of government under Noah and his successors till the time of Abraham, when a power above man was recognized as that which distinguished between righteousness and unrighteousness, and which inflicted the penalty upon the rebellious.

THIRD DAY. The appearance of the dry land. This answers in the individual to the emergence of that stability of character connected with the new creation. His life is to become a scene for fruitfulness for God. Thus, on the same day the earth brings forth every form of plant life. Fruitfulness to God is the thought suggested. Dispensationally, it represents the Jewish age when the nation was called out of the surrounding Gentile impiety to be a witness for God and to bring forth fruit for Him upon the earth. Such a nation was Israel, the only earthly people God ever had, who should have brought forth plants of righteousness for His glory.

FOURTH DAY. The establishment of lights in the heavens. Light had existed from the first day. Its
source is now seen and fully manifested. So, the sources of the divine life are developed as being in the person of Christ risen and glorified, who becomes the light of His people, and their rule.

Dispensationally, this corresponds to the present period of grace, characterized by a glorified Christ who has taken His seat upon the throne of God to illumine His people's path, and who, in authority over all things, will one day manifest His power. The moon by its reflected light would suggest that luster which can only be reflected in the Church as it is occupied with a glorified Christ.

FIFTH DAY. The waters productive. This answers to the fruitfulness of all our experience in this life. The very exercises connected with learning the bitterness of the flesh, the trials through which we pass, all are used by the Spirit of God to produce in us that which shall be for Himself. We would be losers in eternity did we not have the experiences of this present time of tribulation.

Dispensationally, this answers to the period of distinctive tribulation in the world's history immediately after the removal of the Church to glory. This is called in the book of the Revelation "the great tribulation," and out of it will come peaceable fruits of righteousness for Israel and the nations upon the earth.

SIXTH DAY shows us the creation of man, with his wife, who are placed in headship over all the works of God's hands. Here the individual and the dispensational blend together. It is association with a glorified Christ as His companion throughout the Millennium and eternity, suggesting that twofold union of His Church with Himself in complete supremacy over all things ; and, in a secondary sense, Israel, the earthly bride, sharing in His dominion over this world.

THE SEVENTH DAY leaves nothing but the rest of God, in which God will be "all in all," and where in new creation He can rest eternally satisfied with that redemption work which will be perfectly exhibited "to the praise of the glory of His grace."
Chap. 2:is the history of Eden, in which thoughts of responsibility and divine care are prominent. Man is put into the garden to dress and keep it, is given authority over everything, and has associated with Him Eve, the wife. Here, too, we have a foreshadowing of what is ever in God's thoughts, the marriage of His beloved Son. Thus, at the very entrance into His revelation we are brought face to face with that which shall be fully consummated only in glory.

As has been already said, the second division of the book (chaps, 3:-50:) narrates the fall, and God's remedy, which is embodied in the sevenfold development of the life of God in the soul. Genesis is not the book of redemption, which is the theme of Exodus, but has to do with the origin and springs of life in the soul. In a very striking way, too, it will be found that the various stages in the divine life, as developed in the history of the patriarchs, correspond to the manifestation of life as we have seen it in the six days of creation.

Adam is here the first, as Scripture says, the "figure of Him who was to come," "the last Adam," our Lord Jesus. He is the head of the fallen race, and typically the head too of the redeemed family. "As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

In the second subdivision (chaps, 4:and 5:) we have the two classes of descendants from Adam-that which is according to the flesh, and that which is according to the Spirit.

The third subdivision (chaps, 6:-11:) shows the destruction of the Old World, God's judgment upon the flesh, and, typically, the new life in the power of resurrection after the Flood. Of course, we know that this was only in type, that the heart of man was unchanged; so we find the close of this period in the tower of Babel, with its pride and resulting confusion and separation.

The fourth subdivision (chaps, 12:-21:) is devoted to the history of Abraham, the calling out of one in separation from all that was about him. What is emphasized in his history is the life of faith and its resultant walk-Most helpful and profitable lessons are to be gathered here. What is emphasized is, that God is to be trusted in spite of whatever obstacle there may seem to be. Thus, Abraham receives the promises when all hope from nature had gone. A solemn contrast to the liberty and power and joy of this confidence in God is seen in Lot, who, though a child of God and a righteous man, was linked with evil because he had not energy of faith to rise above the sordid things of earth.

In the fifth subdivision (chaps, 22:-26:) Isaac is prominently before us. He is a well-known type of Christ Himself, God with man; and in his surrender to his father's will we have beautifully suggested that obedience unto death which marked our blessed Lord. Purposes also of God, concerning the glory of Christ, are suggested in the fact that Isaac is heir of all that Abraham possesses.

Chap. 24:is familiar as unfolding in type the seeking of a heavenly bride by the Spirit of God, who is beautifully typified in Abraham's servant.

The sixth subdivision (chaps, 26:-37:). The life of Jacob is gone into with great detail. Here we have, not so much a type of Christ as of Israel as a nation, and the old nature in the believer. Jacob is the object of God's sovereign grace, and has sufficient faith to prize the blessings which are despised by his carnally-minded brother Esau; but throughout we see the restlessness of natural energy, resorting to expedients and deceptions which bring with them needed chastening from God. His entire life is therefore a discipline, in which he learns the lesson, slowly and reluctantly, of "no confidence in the flesh." It is beautiful to see him at the close, leaning at last upon his staff, as he worships God. This is the true effect of all discipline-to bring us to a condition of absolute dependence upon Him, which makes worship possible.

In the last subdivision (chaps, 37:-50:) we have, in striking contrast to this, the life of Joseph, where he is so constantly a type that we lose sight almost of his personal character. In Jacob discipline is prominent. In Joseph the type is before us. Personally he seems to have been a man of genuine faith and true godliness of walk. He is a type as the object of his father's love and of his brethren's envy even as our blessed Lord was. Sent on an errand of love to them, he is disowned and sold into Egypt, as the Lord Jesus was rejected and delivered over to the Gentiles. He finds a prison there, as our blessed Lord found the cross and the grave. He is lifted up out of the prison and placed upon the throne, as Christ our Lord was raised up from the dead and exalted over all things. After his exaltation, during the stress of famine which comes upon the earth, answering to " the great tribulation " and straitened times of the last days, Joseph in his glory is made known to his brethren, even as Christ will be made known to Israel according to the flesh; and as his brethren were compelled to judge their sin and confess it,-very significantly, through Judah, who answers to the Jewish nation as contrasted with the whole twelve tribes,-so, in the latter days, the godly remnant of the Jews will give up everything for Christ, and at the very moment of greatest darkness and distress the Lord Himself will be made known to them. The Jesus whom they rejected will be seen to be the Ruler upon the throne of God, and all things in His power. Thus, restoration will be accomplished, and Israel will be brought into blessing.

This cursory glance will show us what fulness there is in this wondrous book. May its study at this time be productive of fresh instruction and blessing for our souls!