In the beginning, God created ...
Notes
Transcript
Foundations are the most important thing yet often unseen part of any ediface. If the foundation of a building is not sound then the building will collapse when placed under stress. But if the foundations is sound then the building can withstand extreme stress.
Cultures have foundations. These are the stories that explan where they come from. The question is; are those foundations sound and secure?
Every culture has stories to explain where it came from.
The ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Romans had their own origin stories.
The ancient Egyptians believed that a flat world rested on four pillars of stone and the ancient Hindus believed that a flat world rested on the back of a huge elephant, the elephant stood on the back of an enormous turtle, and the turtle stood on an immense coiled snake!
Our modern western culture explains where we come from with the story of evolution. But there is no proof for this belief. Where we were in PNG, each clan had there clan story, which explained their origins but each one was different. Even our First Nations people have their origins stories, whether it be Beyami, the rainbow serpent or dreamtime stories.
Instead of giving such theories, Moses, who was educated in Egyptian schools, but who was inspired by God to write the creation account in Genesis, gave us the true, God-breathed account, in words of grand simplicity, matchless beauty and exquisite accuracy: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”
The Bible gives us the truth of where all of us come from because he was the only witness because He created everything. At Bible College we were taught that an important principle of interpretation was where was the first mention in the Bible.
So we begin in the book of Genesis. Genesis is the story of beginnings. The beginning of the creation, of mankind, of the entry of sin into the world and his beginning to redeem his creation.
1. The Creator God Verse 1
1. The Creator God Verse 1
The subject of the first verse of Genesis is God. How good this is because the passage shows us God and his creative abilities. It is good because it introduces the truth that the whole of the Bible is about God. We might like to think it is about us, people, because we think that we are important. But the reality is that it it is the creator not the creation is important.
But what type of God is He?
The eternal, infinite God
The eternal, infinite God
The only way we can know anything about God is as he reveals himself to us. He reveals himself to us through His Holy Word, the Bible. He reveals himself in the Bible, progressively, that is a bit at a time adding more to what he reveals at each stage.
So here in Genesis 1 the Bible begins with no explanation of where God came from, any description of God or answer any question that modern men might have about Him.
It just assumes or presupposes his existence. Comment on presuppositionalism.
There are some things that we can infer from this brief introduction. Before there was a beginning, God already was. This means that He was, is and will always be eternal and infinite.
Time is often represented by a straight line drawn on a page. We call this a time line. To get a grasp of what the eternality of God means, when you have drawn your time line you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn.
Even this does not give the full picture because the page has an end. Eternity has no end and when talking about God it has no beginning.
The beginning of creation
The beginning of creation
With this beginning, time commences.
The heavens and the earth
The heavens and the earth
2. The Initial Creation Verse 2
2. The Initial Creation Verse 2
Initially the earth is not as we know it today.
Initially the earth is not as we know it today.
It had no form
It had no form
At learning trailer, we take play doh...
There was nothing to fill the earth.
There was nothing to fill the earth.
As there was no form there was nothing to go into the formless earth.
Just imagine you wanted something like a fish aquarium ...
There was only darkness with no light whatsoever.
There was only darkness with no light whatsoever.
Darkness you could feel if you were there. Like being deep down a cave with no light source.
There was the Holy Spirit ready to do the Father’s bidding.
There was the Holy Spirit ready to do the Father’s bidding.
3. The Word and the light Verse 3
3. The Word and the light Verse 3
It is significant that the first thing God created was light so as to pierce the darkness.
The way that God created was through speech. God said “Let there be light, and there was light.”
Of course speech means using words.
The Word is the second person of the Trinity John 1:1-3
The Word is the second person of the Trinity John 1:1-3
John 1:1–3 (CSB)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
The Word was also the light of the world John 1:4-5
The Word was also the light of the world John 1:4-5
John 1:4–5 (CSB)
4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.
The Word became flesh John 1:14
The Word became flesh John 1:14
14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Through believing in Him we can become the children of God John 1:12
Through believing in Him we can become the children of God John 1:12
12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name,
What have we learned about God from just these first three verses? He is first of all powerful. Secondly He is one but also plural, so this is the seed of the developed doctrine of the Trinity. Lastly, he is also purposeful, we shall see that in the next sermon on Genesis 1.
Applications
Applications
God is the creator. What are the implications or the applications of this truth? There are many but I will just mention two.
Submit to the Creator
Submit to the Creator
We as created beings must submit to the creator who has the right to rule and control his creation. This is why so many people want to believe in evolution because then they think that they do not need to submit to the creator.
Do you submit to your creator? How do we submit to our creator?
Fear the Creator
Fear the Creator
We should fear the awesome wonder of He who just with words could create all that we see and can't see.
Do you fear this creator God?
We should believe in the Son who came to make those who believe in Him the Father's sons and daughters.
If you said no to either of the first application questions then I urge you to trust in Jesus' death for you and then fear and submit to the one who created you.