Bereshit - The Spirit of Messiah in Creation
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)
In Bereshit, this week’s Torah portion, we learn about how God created the heavens and the earth. But why did God create them? Why did God create the universe? For the sake of the Messiah. God made the entire universe for the sake of Messiah and the Messianic Era. As it says in the Babylonian Talmud, Sanheidrin 98b:
“Rav said, ‘The world was created for the sake of David.” Shmu’el said, “Only for the sake of Moses.” Rabbi Yochanan said, “Only for the sake of Messiah.”
The apostles taught that the Messiah was before creation and that God created everything for Messiah. Through Messiah, God created the world. As it says in John 1:1-3:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
In Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 54a it says:
“God created seven things before the world was created. They are the Torah; repentance; the Garden of Eden; Gehenna; the Throne of Glory; the Temple; and the name of Messiah ... The name of Messiah, as it is written [in Psalm 72:17] ‘May his name endure forever, before the sun his name endures.’”
The list above teaches the plan of redemption. First God created the Torah, which revealed the path to righteousness. Then, God created repentance, because he knew that man would fail to follow the path all the time. If man repents, he can enter the Garden of Eden, a paradise. If he does not, he will be sent to Gehenna, a place of judgement. At the appointed time everyone must stand to face judgement before the Throne of Glory. The righteous will enter God’s temple, His dwelling place, by the merit of the Messiah.
In Isaiah 11:1-2 it says:
“And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, And a twig shall grow forth out of his roots. And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.”
The prophet Isaiah foresaw a king from the line of David, a “stem of Jesse”. He saw that the spirit of the Lord would rest upon this son of David.
According to the Midrash Rabbah, the Spirit of the Lord that will rest upon the Messianic King is the same spirit that hovered over the waters of creation:
“‘The Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.’ This was the Spirit of the Messiah, as it is written, ‘The Spirit of the LORD that moved over the primeval waters of creation.’” (Genesis Rabbah 1:2 quoting Isaiah 11:1-2)
There are two additional scriptures that support this claim. One is in Psalms 77:20 where it says, “Thy way was in the sea, And Thy path in the great waters, And Thy footsteps were not known.” His footsteps were not known because a foot on water leaves no footprint. In the ancient world, the sea represented the forces of chaos. In Matthew 14:25 it shows how Yeshua walked over the surface of the ocean, “And in the fourth watch of the night Yeshua went unto them, walking on the sea.”
Chasidic discourse teaches that the Spirit of Messiah is greater than that of Moshe (Moses). While Moshes was drawn out of the water, and later divides the sea and walks through the water, the Messiah is depicted as above the water. As it says in The Maamarim of the Alter Rebbe on the Parshiyos:
“The Messiah has superiority even higher than that of Moses our teacher. On the phrase at the beginning of the Torah, ‘And the spirit of God hovered,’ the sages teach, ‘This alludes to the spirit of the King Messiah.’ The verse continues, ‘over the surface of the waters.’ This intimates a level higher than that of Moshe, who was so called Moshe ‘because out of the water I drew him.” (Exodus 2:10)”
In Yalkut Shim’oni, 11.499, it says:
“‘God saw the light, and it was good.’ This teaches us that before the world was created, the Holy One, blessed is he, looked forward to the generation of the Messiah and its deeds. He hid the [primordial light] for Messiah and his generation beneath his throne of glory.”
The original light of the first day of creation was hidden away for the Messianic Era. Darkness represents exile, a time where the presence of God is hidden. We pray for the end of exile, and ask God to “shine a new light on Zion”. In Isaiah 49:6 it states, “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” Yalkut Shim’oni, 11.499 has a comment on this verse:
“At that time, the Holy One, blessed be he, will make the light of King Messiah and of Israel gleam, and everyone will walk by the light of King Messiah and of Israel, as it is said, ‘Nations will walk by your light and kings by your shining brilliance.”
John 1:3-5 points to Yeshua being the light of creation, as it says, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” The Tz’enah Ur’enah on Genesis 1:3 says that Messiah is the light.
“The Torah tells us, ‘God said, “Let there be light,”’ to reveal that God will ultimately illuminate Israel with the light of the Messiah, of whom it is written, ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come ...’ The light being, of course, the Messiah ... The verse ‘Let there be Light’ teaches that God created the world through this light, for immediately after these words the creation began.”
Just as God revealed the light of creation, hid it away, and will reveal it again in the Messianic Era, so too God will reveal the Messiah, conceal him, and then reveal him again.
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