Creation Window

I	N THE BEGINNING, GOD CREATED THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH (GENESIS 1:1).

The first man and woman are shown surveying the garden that God has given them to care for and enjoy. Before them are the river watering the garden, some of the creatures God has made, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

God warned them not to eat the fruit of the tree, or they would die. But Satan, in the form of a serpent, convinced the woman that God had lied to them--that they would not die, but that instead their eyes would be opened and they would become like God. They ate of the tree, but they did not become like God. They gained the knowledge of good and evil, but also the responsibility of dealing with this knowledge. They were expelled from the garden, and they and their descendants entered into an unending battle with Satan.

The Bible teaches that Satan will finally be defeated at the end of the age. This promise is depicted in the Revelation widow on the opposite side of the Sanctuary. A number of other contrasts and parallels between Genesis and Revelation are also depicted in these windows: the tree of knowledge and the tree of life, the river watering the garden and the river of life, alpha (the beginning) and omega (the end). Christ is also depicted in both windows, since he was present before the world began (John 1:2, 17:5) and will be present at the end. He is symbolized by a unicorn in the Creation window, and by a lamb in the Revelation window.