By allowing God’s Holy Spirit to move freely in our lives creates and transforms chaos into cosmos, disorderliness to orderliness, darkness to light and mortal to immortality, and perishable to imperishableness forever, writes Bishop Tutai Pere of the Apostolic Church.

Scripture Reading: Genesis 1:1 – 3, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. 2, And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. 3, And God said, let there be light: and there was light … I muatangana ra, kua anga iora te Atua I te rangi e te enua. 2, Te vai utunga kore ua ra te enua, kare e marikonga; e te poiri oki ki rungao I te moana. Kua akakoukou iora te Vaerua o te Atua ki rungao I te kiriatai. 3, Kua tuatua iora te Atua, Ei marama; kua marama iora.”

Our Judaeo Christian Holy Book the Bible in 1^st John 1:5 declares that, “God is Light, and in him is no darkness at all”. Light therefore always illuminates, sheds light, every vegetation and growing seeds and plants always seeks and bends to grow towards the light; but darkness smothers, slows, stagnates and kills growth. Satan the adversary is often called the angel of darkness whose characteristic is but to rob, kill and destroy every form of life.

The Greek word ‘kosmos’ means ‘orderliness’, its opposite is ‘chaos’ means ‘disorderliness’. Another Greek word ‘kosmeo’ from which our English word ‘cosmetics’ is derived from also has meaning closest to kosmos which means to arrange in order, put in place, prepare or make ready. It can also mean to ornament, adore, beautify, or embellish with honour.

In that same manner or order our Self-existent God, Prime Mover, First Cause, Master Designer and Chief Architect created the heaven and the earth from out of nothing. Just as the Genesis’ opening statements record, “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light, and there was light”. Darkness literally means the absence of light. If the whole world is altogether darkness, then there will obviously be dismal, gloom, dingy, lifelessness, death and decay. As the Spirit of God, which is light moved upon the face of the waters, it calls light into existence and therefore causes all forms of life into growth, reproduction, all forms of life blooms into existence. All whatsoever promotes, supports, generates, activates, gravitates times, space and seasons just as the Creation story begins on Day one = light, Day two = heaven above, water below, Day three = earth and sea/vegetation, Day four = sun, moon and stars, Day five = living creatures of water and sky, Day six = living creatures on land/humans, Day seven = rest.

In summation, God called all that he had created as ‘good’, excepting humanity the very last but crown and pinnacle of his creation works he called, ‘very good’ extraordinary, because “God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them” (Gen.1:27). In innocence, “God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and every living thing that moveth upon the earth” (Gen.1:28).

In (1) innocence humanity was created and given the free gift of choice, placed in a perfect environment, subjected only to a simple test and warned of the consequences of disobedience. They were not compelled to sin but, tempted by the adversary satan, they chose to disobey God like all humanity still do to this day. The woman was deceived, the man transgressed deliberately as in 1 Timothy 2:14. The stewardship of innocence ended in the judgment of the expulsion from Eden (Gen.3:24). This was followed by other timelines of dispensations: 2) Conscience or Moral Responsibility (Gen.3:7); 3) Human government (Gen.8:8:15); 4) Promise (Gen.12:1); 5) Law (Ex.19:1); 6) Church (Acts 2:1); 7) Kingdom (Rev.20:4).

Ultimately, since man could not save himself due to his sinful nature, unbelief and disobedience, God came to humanity’s rescue through Jesus Christ as the lamb for the sacrifice (pure, holy, unblemished and spotless) as Hebrews 9:22 states, “And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission”. God himself in Christ Jesus (Immanuel = God With Us or With Us God) took on human form and image (while the Spirit never left his throne), he put on flesh to die as sacrifice to atone/remit of humanity’s sins and death, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Hence Paul in Romans 20:28, “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood”.

From creation to human community and society

The same Spirit of God that hovered and moved upon the face of the waters at the beginning of time, transforming disorderliness into orderliness continued to move upon humanity’s life transforming profanity into holiness; from the worship of idol gods into the worship of Almighty God Creator of the heaven and the earth. Individually he called each to walk, live, serve and worship him while he gradually revealed of his will and purpose for the rest of humanity. He established eight new covenant relationships with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 1) Edenic covenant (Gen.2:16) conditions the life of man in innocence, 2) Adamic (Gen.3:15) conditions the life of men with promise of a Redeemer to come, 3) Noahic (Gen.9:16) establishes the principle of human government, 4) Abrahamic (Gen.12:2) founds the nation of Israel and confirms with specific additions the Adamic promise of redemption, 5) Mosaic (Ex.19:5) condemns all men, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23; 5:12), 6) Palestinian covenant (Deut.30:3) secures the final restoration and conversion of Israel, 7) Davidic (2 Sam.7:16) establishes the perpetuity to be fulfilled in and by Christ (Acts 15:14-17), 8) New covenant (Heb,8:8) rests upon the sacrifice of Christ and secures the eternal blessedness under the Abrahamic covenant (Gal.3:13-29) of all believers, will be final and irreversible.

In conclusion: i) All that the first Adam lost, the second Adam Christ Jesus restores (1 Cor.15:45-47; Col.2:10; Heb.2:7-9). ii) Seed of the woman, Christ Jesus fulfills all conditions of toil (Mark 6:3) and obedience (Phil.2:8, Heb.5:8), iii) He fulfills supremely all promises, iv) as Abraham’s son obedient unto death (Gal.3:16, Phil.2:8), v) he lived obediently and bore all curses (Gal.3:10-13); vi) lived obediently  as a Jew “as salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22); vii) Christ is Seed, Heir and King under the Davidic covenant (Mt.1:1, Lk.1:31-33), viii) His is the ultimate sacrifice and is the foundation of both the Old Covenant and New Testament.

This carries that same Holy Spirit bringing to full culmination and fulfillment of absolute and complete salvation in Jesus Christ alone.

By allowing God’s Holy Spirit to move freely in our lives creates, transforms chaos into cosmos, disorderliness to orderliness, darkness to light and mortal to immortality, perishable to imperishableness forever. But one must be Born Again, Of the Water and of the Holy Spirit, in order for the Holy Spirit to seal us unto eternal life in Jesus Christ (John 3:3, 5, 7 and Acts 2:38,39 and 41).

Have a blessed Jesus New Year 2025. Kia Orana e Kia Manuia rava! Amene!