Then God said,
"Let there be light,"" and there was light.
Jesus himself was the Word spoken from all eternity, and he himself was therefore the true light of the world (see John 8:12). The Spirit too was there at the beginning, sweeping over the waters of the tohu wa-bohu, the formless wasteland and chaos of uncreation. It was together as one that the Triune God began creation. It was more than the royal we that was used when God said "Let us make".
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea,
and the LORD swept the sea
with a strong east wind throughout the night
and so turned it into dry land.
Just as God had swept the sea at the beginning so as to bring forth order and being from chaos and formlessness, so too did he sweep the waters of the Red Sea in order to provide a path for Moses and Israel. Moses and Israel came up against an impassable barrier, a potential return to the tohu wa-bohu, the threat of death itself. But just as he had provided for creation and the beginning, he now provided for renewal, a pathway that proceeded symbolically through death to new life.
This water from which creation arose, through which Moses passed, was the same water that consumed the world in the time of Noah. Yet God provided a way through the flood at that time as well. We saw these archetypal events of water and new creation, of God, Word, and Spirit, recapitulated in the baptism of Jesus, who himself descended into the water, rose from out of it, and witnessed the descent of the Spirit upon him. He was revealed to be the ground of a new creation, a new ark to lead us through the storms of life, a path that could lead even through the waters, even those of death, to the distant shore, eventually to the promised land.
Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death?
The Spirit was with Jesus, as he was at creation, as he was in the form of a dove as with Noah, as he was when he swept over the waters with Moses. The Father too was present to show his love and approval of the one who would finally perfectly accomplish his work and lead his people on the great pilgrimage of life. In Jesus the water itself need no longer be feared, for by it we are transformed. Through it we pass, dry shod, to resurrection.
All you who are thirsty,
come to the water!
You who have no money,
come, receive grain and eat;
come, without paying and without cost,
drink wine and milk!
What was God trying to accomplish in all of this? Was he simply creating an elaborate aquarium for a special pet, and changing the water periodically when we made it too polluted for life to thrive any longer? No! Emphatically, no! From the beginning he desired something more than a master-slave relationship with his creatures. He desired a covenant, in which he not only gave us a world in which to live and rules to follow, but more than these, he gave his very self. We see this first in the rest of the seventh day of creation, where our relationship with him was revealed to be more important than any work we might perform. It was revealed again in the rainbow given to Noah and in the Law given to Moses. Though we never kept our end of the covenants perfectly, they were nevertheless not the mere stipulations of contracts that we ignored. What we were missing when we failed and fell into idolatry was precisely that the conditions for a bond which was meant to be nuptial to survive and thrive. Our idolatry was precisely for this reason likened to infidelity.
The One who has become your husband is your Maker;
his name is the LORD of hosts;
your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
called God of all the earth.
Creation was always meant to be a gift of God the bridegroom to we the bride. But our heart was fickle and we often forgot the giver in our delight in the gift. We turned to others instead of he in attempt to satisfy the longing and need within us, but never found satisfaction. Though he called us back again and again we continued to wander. What could be done for hearts as fickle as ours? God was not taken by surprise. He always knew how he would respond. He had a final move to make that would heal our defection forever.
Though the mountains leave their place
and the hills be shaken,
my love shall never leave you
nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
says the LORD, who has mercy on you.
The Lord promised to change not only the conditions that surrounded us, which was clearly not enough, but our very hearts as well.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
to cleanse you from all your impurities,
and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
taking from your bodies your stony hearts
and giving you natural hearts.
He would do this, not be giving his words, but by sending the Word himself.
so shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
my word shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.
He would do this, not with wisdom simply as embodied in the book of precepts, but Jesus Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God (see First Corinthians 1:24)
Since then she has appeared on earth,
and moved among people.
The Word could not return to him void. Wisdom himself would endure forever, and all who cling to him would live. Whereas the offering of Isaac would not have been enough, the offering of Jesus "perfected for all time those who are being sanctified" (see Hebrews 10:14). This was the one who slept in the tomb. It was impossible for him to remain there, "because it was not possible for him to be held by it" (see Acts 2:24).
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