May 18
27
Old Testament Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:3
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. And God said, ‘Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.’ And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. And God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, ‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.’ And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. And God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.’ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. And God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.’ And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.” (Genesis 1:1–2:3, ESV)
New Testament Reading: Revelation 21:1-3
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” (Revelation 21:1–3, ESV)
Introduction
Please don’t assume that we have now begun to rush through our study of the book of Genesis. It is true that we are considering all of Genesis 1:3-2:3 this morning, but we will return to this passage to move through it much more methodically and in pieces in the weeks to come. In this sermon we will consider this passage generally and as a whole.
Today I want for you to see that although when God first created the earth it was uninhabitable – it was “without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep [over the surface of the waters]” – this was not his ultimate design and purpose for the world. Instead, God “formed [the world] to be inhabited!” (Isaiah 45:18, ESV). This he did in the days of creation that are recorded for us here in Genesis 1. God “formed [the world] to be inhabited!”
God’s design for the world was not that it be empty, but that it be filled with life. God’s purpose for the world was that it be a place for man to dwell. God’s intention for the world was that it be a place where man would enjoy fellowship with himself. God’s purpose for the world was that it be filled with those who would worship him and served him always. In the end God’s design for the world was that it be a place filled with his glory where man would enjoy unbroken, unmitigated, and unending communion with the God who made them.
How do we know that this was God’s purpose in creating the heavens and the earth? How do we know that God’s design for the world was that it would be a place filled with his glory where man would enjoy unbroken, unmitigated, and unending communion with the God who made him? Is this purpose for the world clearly communicated in Genesis 1 and 2? We would have to say that this truth is indeed communicated in Genesis 1 and 2, but it is the rest of scripture that makes this truth abundantly clear. The rest of scriptures makes it clear that this was God’s design from the beginning. The world was created by God to a be a place where man would rightly relate to God, and God to man. Man was designed to worship and serve his Creator. Man was to enjoy the glory of his Creator forever and ever. This, of course, was lost at the fall – “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23, ESV). But this hope was regained through Christ our Savior. And this will be the end of the matter, as the book of Revelation makes clear. All who are in Christ will be brought safely into the “new heaven and… new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth [having been ruined by sin, will pass away]… ’Behold, the dwelling place of God [will be] with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God’” (Revelation 21:1–3, ESV). In the end God will make all things new. The earth will finally fulfill the purpose for which God designed it. It will be a place filled with the glory of God where man will enjoy unbroken, unmitigated, and unending communion with the God who made him?
How important it is for us to interpret the text of Genesis 1 and 2 in light of the rest of scripture, particularly the New Testament, and especially the book of Revelation. These truths are indeed communicated in Genesis 1 and 2, but the end of the story helps us greatly in understanding what God’s purpose was from the beginning.
In the previous sermon I made the assertion that the act of creation was itself revelatory. I hope you are able to grasp the significance of this statement. It means that the wayin which God created the heavens and the earth reveals truth – truth concerning God, truth concerning the creation, his purpose for it, and his interaction with it.
Indeed, God reveals truth by his word. He has given us his word by the prophets of old, by the Christ, and by his Apostles. This word was at first spoken. Afterwards it was written. And it is the written word which is our authority for truth today. But before the scriptures were written, God did act in human history. He acted in creation. He acted in delivering Israel from Egypt. And he acted by sending his Son into the world, this culminating in the act of crucification, resurrection, and ascension. The acts of God serve as the basis for the word of God, first spoken, then written. And I am saying that the acts of God are, in and of themselves, revelatory.
The way in which the Christ lived, died, rose and ascended revealed truth. The way in which God redeemed Israel from Egypt revealed truth. And the way, or the process, whereby God created the heavens and the earth revealed truth – truth concerning God, truth concerning the creation, his purpose for it, and his interaction with it.
You may have heard it said that Genesis 1 establishes for us a worldview. This is true. In fact, it should be said that Genesis chapters 1-3 provide us with the foundation for a worldview that is biblical and true. How should we see the world? How should we think of God, creation, man, and God’s purpose for man? Genesis chapters 1-3 lay the foundation for us. We will see that God made the world to be inhabitedby man. It is the place that God preparedfor man so that he might enjoy communion(a relationship) with God as he worshipped and served God according to God’s design and purpose.
How important is was for these truths to be communicated to, and even written down for, the people of Israel, as they were led out of Egypt and towards the land of promise by the hand of Moses. The people of God were being delivered out from amongst an idolatrous people. The worldview of the Egyptians was all jumbled up and distorted. The Egyptians worshipped many gods. The distinction between Creator and creature had been obliterated by them so that the sun was a god. So too was the Nile, etc. When the one true God delivered Israel from Egypt he did so in such a way to demonstrate that their god’s were not god’s at all, and that the God of Israel was the true God. The sun was darkened, remember, and the Nile turned to blood, etc.
The same thing could be said of the people among whom the Israelites wandered while in the wilderness. They were pagan idolaters who lived according to a false worldview.
And the same thing could be said concerning the people who occupied the land of promise that Israel would eventually come to have as her own. They were pagan idolaters who lived according to a false worldview.
Genesis chapters 1-3 were given to Israel through Moses (along with the rest of the Pentateuch) so that Israel, God’s chosen people, might have a true worldview and live accordingly.
This same worldview was also given to Adam and Eve in the garden. I am not saying they had it in writing as Israel did after Moses penned the Pentateuch, but clearly they knew all about the history that is recorded for us in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.
What Genesis 1:1-2:3 reveals to us must have also been revealed to Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were not there to witness the creation of the world in six days (they were created on the sixth day), but they certainly knew about God’s work of creation, for even they were called by God to work six days and to rest on the seventh in imitation of the pattern established by God at creation. That history – the history of God’s creative act – was revealed to them by God.
And Adam and Eve were alive to experience much of what is revealed to us in Genesis chapter 2. In 2:7 we read, “then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature” (Genesis 2:7, ESV). The story that follows from there was their story. They lived it and, therefore, they knew it well. The same can be said of Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve lived that narrative! It was their story – their history.
Adam and Eve possessed a true worldview, therefore, and they were to live according to it. This truth was also passed along to their children, and they were to live according to it. This true worldview was preserved by the righteous line that proceeded from Adam and Eve until it was written down by Moses as he was carried along by the Holy Spirit to write what he wrote without error. And now we, though we live a very long time after the book of Genesis was first written by Moses and given to Israel (3,500 years), and though we live in a world different from the one in which Moses and ancient Israel lived, are to receive what is here written as our worldview and to live accordingly.
I have noticed that people do not often think about their worldview. They simply see the world as they see it and assume that it is right. And then they go on to live according to their worldview (which they have assumed is right) without realizing how much their worldview effects every area of their lives.
Your worldview effects the way that you live. You spend your time in the way that you spend it according to you worldview. You spend your money in the way that you spend it according to your worldview. You invest your energies according to your worldview. Your view of the world impacts even you inner life – your thoughts, your emotions, and your appetites. You react to life’s successes and failures, joys and sorrows according to your view of the world.
To having a true and biblical worldview is a great blessing. I do not see how you can have true faith in Christ without it. And I know that having a fully formed and mature biblical worldview will go a long way in advancing your sanctification in Christ. The more we know and truly believe what God has revealed concerning himself, ourselves and the world in which we live the more it will help us in living for God in this world, and not for self. It is no wonder that Paul said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…” (Romans 12:2, ESV). Sanctification happens – transformation happens – when we are renewed in the mind by God’s word.
Genesis chapters 1 through 3 (indeed, the whole of scripture) was given so that God’s people might see the world and the God who made it correctly and then live accordingly. It is here in the opening chapters of Genesis that the truth concerning the world in which we live is established for us.
Regrettably, when the text of Genesis 1 and 2 are considered today the focus of attention often goes to questions concerning the age of the earth, or the length of the days of creation, or to other such things. I am not saying that these questions are unimportant (they are very important). And neither am I saying that Genesis has nothing to say about these things (indeed, Genesis has much to say concerning these matters). But I am saying that Genesis 1 and 2 were given, first to Israel, and also to us, so at we might have a worldview that is true.
The act of God creating the heavens and earth was revelatory. Not only did it get the job of creation done, but it also revealed truth in the process. We have the history of God’s creative acts preserved for us in the scriptures. And this history is given, not so that we might simply know the facts, nor so that it might answer or scientific questions, but so that we might have proper view of God, of the world he has made, of ourselves, and of God’s purpose for us.
As we consider Genesis 1:3-2:3 generally there are few things stand out as significant building blocks for a biblical and true worldview. Let us look briefly at five of them:
There Is God And There Is Creation
First, we are confronted with the fact that when all is considered there is God and there is his creation.
All that exists can be divided into these two categories. There is God, and everything that is not God is the creation of God.
God is not one with his creation, but is distinct from it.
Nothing at all in God’s creation is to be worshipped, therefore.
Never should man bow down before or pray to any created thing but to God alone.
This fundamental fact that there is God and there is his creationshould cultivate humility within us. For it is this distinction between Creator and creature which brings us to the realization that we are not God. We are his creatures. We were made by him and for him and thus are subordinate to him by virtue of our existence.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. There is God and there is his creation. Everything that is not God is the creation of God. You are his creature and he is your Maker.
Do you believe this?
And if you do believe it, can you see how this most fundamental of all worldview building blocks should impact your life?
Do you really believe that God is God and that you are his creature? Why then do you wake up in the morning and not give him honor? How then are you able to go about your days living only for yourself? How is it that you are ungrateful? Why are you prideful?
Often the trouble is not that we do not believe these things, but that we do not believe them deeply enough. God is God, and we are his creatures. Let us therefore live for his glory always. This is only fitting.
God Is Sovereign Over All His Creation
Secondly, notice that God is sovereign over all of his creation.
When we say that God is sovereign we are saying that he is supreme. He is “infinitely elevated above the highest creature, He is the Most High, Lord of heaven and earth. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent; God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him (Pink, The Attributes of God, p. 40).
Do you see that in the beginning there was God. Noting existed besides him to challenge his authority. He did not struggle to bring heaven and earth into existence, but merely spoke and it happened.
Notice the repetition throughout Genesis 1: “And God said, and God said, and God said…” and it was accomplished. God is supreme in creation and he is now sovereign over his creation. Nothing of all that God created can possibly threaten his authority.
This is not the god of the pagans. Idolators imagine that the world came about as the result of a great struggle amongst the gods. Idolaters imagine that the gods are still struggling amongst themselves and with man. But the God of scripture was supreme in the beginning and is sovereign still. He is God Most High. He is the one who declares “the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose…’”(Isaiah 46:10, ESV).
Sadly, many today who name the name of Christ do not have the God of the Bible as their god, but a “paganized” and idolatrous version of him. They claim to believe in the God of the Bible, but they have brought him down low to make him to be like one of us – one who struggles to bring about his purposes – one who’s will can indeed be thwarted.
Truly, God is sovereign. He was supreme at creation. There was none to challenge him. He effortlessly spoke the world into existence. And his sovereign over all creation as he “works all things according to the counsel of his will…” (Ephesians 1:11, ESV).
God Is Good
Thirdly, do you see that God is good?
Many Bible texts could be called upon to testify to this fact. Also, we could point to many things in the world – yes, even in this fallen and sin sick world – to show that God is good. But his goodness was evident even in creation.
Notice the repetition found in Genesis 1. Throughout we find the remark that when God looked upon what he made he “saw that it was good” (Genesis 1:10, ESV). Indeed, when God was finished with creation “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day” (Genesis 1:31, ESV).
God is good. The world as it came originally from his hand reflected his goodness. God’s goodness can be seen in the world today though the world be tainted by sin. And in the end God will work all things for good “for those who love God… for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, ESV).
God Is Relational
Fourthly, do you see that God is relational?
I have three things in mind here.
One, God is relational within himself. In other words, the one true God, who in the beginning created the heavens and the earth, is Triune. He is three in one, and one in three.
The triunity of God is revealed in Genesis 1.
It was God who in the beginning created the heavens and earth. And yet the Spirit of God was said to be hovering over the primordial waters. Notice also that God created by his Word. “And God said”, is the refrain that runs throughout Genesis 1. But when we come to the pages of the New Testament it is clear that this word of God is in fact a person. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1–3, 14 ESV).
Notice also the language of Genesis 1:26. When it came time for the creation of man God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26, ESV). God here speaks to himself. And he refers to himself in the plural to reflect the plurality that exists in the Godhead – Father, Word (or Son), and Spirit.
Notice that when God does make man, he makes man in his image, and he makes man plural – male and female. Man (or humanity) is male and female. Man, made in God’s image, reflects the plurality that exists within God himself.
God is relational within himself. And God is also relational with his creation.
Man, made in the image of God, was made to relate to God. Man was made to live in covenant with God. This is a part of what it means for man to be made in the image of God. Men and women were made in such a way that they correspond to the God who made them.
God Is To Be Served and Worshipped
And notice fifthly, and lastly, that God is to be served and worshipped.
Man was blessed by God and he was given a mandate. Verse 28: “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28, ESV).
God, from the beginning, gave man a command, and man was to obey. Man was given dominion, but his authority was not unlimited. Man, from the beginning was to live in subordination to the God who made him.
And God was to be worshipped by man. Even in the garden, one day out of seven was set apart as holy unto God. Man was to do all of his work to the glory of the God who made him, but one day in seven was set apart as holy by God so that man would rest and worship.
“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Genesis 2:1–3, ESV).
Conclusion
Dear brothers and sisters, I wonder if you would reflect on these principles that have been presented to you from the text of Genesis 1:1-2:3 and ask three questions of yourself:
One, do you believe these things?
Two, if you claim to believe these things I ask, are you living according to these truths?
Three, I must ask are you believing upon Christ?
