STUDY THEME: QUESTIONS ABOUT ORIGINS. "CREATION: HOW DID IT BEGIN?
GENESIS 1:1-2,3-5,6-8,9-13,14-19,20-25; 1:31-2:1-2
PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO GENESIS 1
The book of Genesis, written by Moses under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is the Book of beginnings. Having Moses as its author dates the writing of the Book at about 1440 BC. The content of the book covers the history of mankind from Adam to Joseph, approximately 2400 years. The purpose of the Book is to establish that God is creator of all things and to give an account of the Creation of all things.
One of the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith is that God created all things. Those who do not accept the biblical teachings of Genesis 1-4 replace God the Creator with materialistic evolution. The Bible is our ultimate source of origins.
God’s world is not a veil hiding the Creator’s power and majesty. Ps. 10: 1-4 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end off the world." Rom. 2:20 points out that "since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes are clearly seen---so that the they who are without Christ are without excuse." The natural order proves that there is a mighty and majestic Creator.
Today’s lesson will focus on the origin of the universe. How did it begin? This lesson traces step by step God’s good creation. The emphasis is on the eternal God who created all things out of nothing. Understanding Genesis is critical to being a well grounded Christian.
For the next 4 weeks you and I are going to consider the early chapters of the book of Genesis. Getting a grip on the book of Genesis is of vital importance for every believer. The book of Genesis tells us where we came from, it tells us how sin, death, and suffering has come to be our experience, it tells us why our physical world looks like it does today---with its high mountain peaks, vast oil reserves, tropical fossils in arctic and mountain locations---I’m talking about the Flood, it tells us why there are so many different nationalities and languages, etc,etc.
Unfortunately many Christians ignore the book of Genesis; suppose because we live in a culture that mocks anyone who believes in the Bible’s account of creation or the Flood. Just recently Stockwell Day was publicly mocked for affirming that he believes that man and dinosaurs walked the earth at the same time. Christians are regarded as simpletons and stupid if they hold to God’s/the Bible’s testimony regarding our origins.
Today our focus is going to be Genesis 1, which lays out for us how us and this whole universe that we are in came to be.
As you well know, the majority of Americans believe in something called Evolution. In the 1859 Charles Darwin wrote a book entitled "the origin of the Species". In this book he proposes that all life is a product of evolution. In essence he posited that we all had our origins in the much---much that just happened to come out of nowhere.
According to Darwin and his followers, life spontaneously occurred (meaning that which was non living, on its own became alive).
According to Darwin and his followers, somehow complex systems came about by total chance. According to Darwin and his followers, things moved from chaos to order and beauty and design, all by accident.
According to Darwin and his followers, all human life and all life is just a big cosmic accident. You and I, are merely the product of a series of mutations---according to Darwin you are a big mutant.
The full blown implications of Darwin’s theory is traumatic:
On the whole, the theory of evolution is completely unscientific. It is theory without proof. It is a theory with gaping holes in it. No fossil evidence exists to prove the theories’ tenet that creatures evolved into higher life forms. Spontaneous generation is an impossibility (life does not just happen spontaneously.) Things do not move from chaos to order on their own!
Complex systems, beauty, order, design do not happen on their own or by accident: There has to be a designer; an intelligence behind such things. Another thing to note is this: there are very few debates between creationists and evolutionists today. It’s not because the issue is settled or that there is a lack of interest. It’s because over and over again evolutionists have been publicly humiliated in such debates. This is not me saying this. A. Robert Smith of the western Missouri affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union (an anti Christian organization) said this.
The Bible starts at a dizzy pace, doesn’t it? If I were reading the Bible for the very first time- I just picked it up and started at the beginning- I think I’d get to the end of chapter one and say to myself, "This book’s going to be a page-turner."
It’s a gripping opening. Because it reveals so much about God; about His nature and His character; His creativity---We see Creation is the work of God, bringing all things into existence; Something, out of nothing. His all mighty power, His holiness, His providential care, His fatherhood, that He is one God, but a trinity of persons. And on and on---it is all right here on the first page! So much about the greatness of God!
The first words of the Bible state that God is the Creator God. No argument, no explanation, just a statement—God created. Out of nothing he makes something! He made the heavens and the earth out of nothing. That is a great idea to get your mind around, that God can take non-existent material and make something. The Psalmist writes, "The heavens declare the glory of the God; the skies proclaim the works of His hands" (Ps. 19:1). God is all-powerful! And in his powerfulness he gives shape to that which he creates, he takes the bare and empty substance and fashions it anew, he takes away the darkness and replaces it with light. The Creator God tells us how he goes about His work- the work of creation. He sees the potential of the raw material and makes something quite glorious from it.
These opening words of the book of beginnings reveal the very character and purpose of God; first He forms and then He fills. He formed the earth and filled it with plants and animals. He formed the heavens and filled it with stars and planets. He formed the seas and filled them with living creatures. God forms and then fills! Even when it came to the time to create man, God proceeded in the same manner, "The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and (Then) breathed (filled)…his nostrils with the breathe of life" (Genesis 2:7). God forms and He fills!
There is no second-guessing what God is about continually! There is no mystery about God’s intention concerning His creation. He takes the formless and empty and makes something quiet distinctive and beautiful. God has declared His hand from the very beginning of time, a message that we need to hear. God forms and fills!
There is no second-guessing what God intends for you. He wants to take your life and make it new. He wants to form and fill our lives.
Indeed, we could take the descriptive words of the opening of Genesis and apply them as a description of human lives today, formless, empty and in darkness. It is a true description of man without God’s creativity. No shape or meaning to life, unfulfilled and going nowhere, despair and sadness permeating our being.
Paul writing to the Church at Corinth says to them, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). God forms and then He fills!
As far as we know, God’s not creating planets or stars or animal species any longer. He has completed it, and that work came to an end. But Jesus said in John 5, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." Another translation says: "My Father never stops working."
God is always active – He speaks today and things happen. Romans 4:17 says that Abraham "believed God who gives life to the dead and call those things which do not exist as though they did." Abraham dared to believe that the great Creator STILL speaks and things are brought into being by that word of His mouth. And therefore nothing is impossible with God.
Hebrews 11:3 says, "by faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible." Genesis calls us to look beyond the material to the immaterial—beyond the creation to the Creator. Notice that nowhere in the Bible does it say "when" God created. No time line. Jesus said in Mark 10:6 "But at the beginning of creation" God made them male and female."
Have you ever been in the Carlsbad Cavern when the lights were turned out. It is pitch black. So dark that you literally can’t see your hand in front of your face. Every step you take is unnerving because you don’t know where you’re treading next.
That’s a picture of what so many people’s lives are like. Without the light of God, without His truth, there is just darkness. People don’t know where life is taking them. They don’t know what the future holds. Everything is uncertainty and confusion. Does anyone here remember how it was before God turned on the light for you?
Imagine what the darkness was like on day one of creation, before God had established a single source of light. Intense darkness. But God spoke into that darkness: "Let there be light", and all of creation just LIT UP. Sight and warmth was everywhere – in an instant!
God had to do that in my life. Thank God – it happened to me! Just like the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:6, "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness WHO HAS SHONE IN OUR HEARTS to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
Some of you have loved ones who have heard the gospel countless times, but they’re still away from God. The fact is, you can put the truth right under their nose but they can’t see it because of the darkness. They need an infusion of God’s light so that they can see it. Don’t try to win the battle by debating and arguing – win it in prayer! Cry out to God until He shines His light into their life and they can see.
The ninth plague that Moses brought upon the land of Egypt, because Pharaoh wouldn’t let God’s people go, was the plague of darkness. Exodus 10:21-23 says that the darkness was so thick that it could be "felt". It was so intense that no Egyptian moved from their bed for 3 days. But while the Egyptians were in darkness, just down the road the Israelite slaves had light in their dwellings.
You know what that tells me? There may be darkness all around- but wherever God commands the light, it shines. In Russia Dr. Boris P. Dotsenko, then head of the nuclear physics department in the Institute of Physics in Kiev, began to think seriously about the nature of the universe. "It suddenly dawned on me," he wrote later, "That there must be a very powerful organizing force counteracting the disorganizing tendency within nature, keeping the universe controlled and in order. This force could not be material; otherwise it too would become disordered. I concluded that this power must be both omnipotent and omniscient. There must be a God- one God- controlling everything." It couldn’t just happen.
Later in Canada for further studies, Dr. Dotsenko picked up a Bible. There he met the God he had decided must exist, and became a Christian. "When we bring God into our world, He turns the darkness to light."
In verses 6-8 God turns chaos into order. There’s light now, but still nothing is stable or organized in any way. But God speaks again, and this time separates earth and sky so there is atmosphere. And then He speaks and the great continents of land form from the oceans. Firmament suggests something hard or firm. In the Hebrew it means a vast, expansive area. This is separating the waters above with the waters below. The waters’ raised was massive, possibly miles thick, forming a perfect "green house" effect. The water above was most likely frozen (waiting for the great flood to occur). Maintaining perfect climate conditions. No wind, air mass movements, clouds, rain, snow, a great filter for harmful radiation (longevity of life).
Have you ever felt like everything was out of order in your life- like nothing was fitting together, properly, as it should? I’ve heard people say things like "Nothing ever works out right" or "my personal life’s a mess" or "my career’s in shambles"…"this is not how I planned life to be".
There is only one sure way I know to have your life move from chaotic to real peace and order. You need God’s creative power. Put your life in His hands, let Him direct you, and obey what He says completely. If He can organize everything from revolving solar systems, right down to microscopic organisms – and have it all working in perfect harmony together – don’t you think He has the power and the wisdom to bring peace into your life, and to build the fragments into something that makes sense.
God has a plan for you. A perfect plan. And yet I know Christians who are still chasing their tails – their family life is dysfunctional, their finances are in a mess, they’re in relationship problems; they’re constantly in upheaval. Why? Because too many Christians are trying to live life according to their own wisdom to achieve their own desires. And when you’re calling the shots, God isn’t! And so you’re devoid of His creative power.
On the third day God raised the land up out of the water. Naming them land and seas. No jagged mountains or deep valleys at this time (these occurred after the flood). Most likely one large land mass, unlike what we have today with our various continents. In verses 11-13, God has a stable, organized environment now, but nothing’s growing yet. There’s no life. Until God speaks with creative power again, and immediately grass and herbs and fruit trees appear, and begin to flourish.
Notice three different catagories of plant life. Seedless – grasses/ seed bearing – vegetable / fruit bearing – fruit. Some people could say no matter what they try, nothing grows. Everything seems such a heart-breaking effort. There never seems to be any fruitfulness for all their hard work.
When Adam was expelled from the Garden, and intimacy with God was broken, God told Him that the ground was now cursed. Every blade of every crop would need to be produced by blood, sweat and tears. It wasn’t that lush garden any longer that just produced in perfection. Adam was cut off from God and it was all ruined. So he toiled for everything. Weeds overran everything. Prov. 13:15 says, "The way of transgressors is hard."
Jesus said in John 15 that the way to have a fruitful life (a life that is productive, a life that blooms) is to be "connected" to Him; to be in vital union with Him. God’s power can transform you from barrenness to life.
Is life too hard today? Maybe you need to relinquish all those efforts, and build that relationship with God whose creative power brings life to the barren.
Gen 1:3 speaks of light or the existence of light as a phenomenon, special, God Himself. Here the light is meaning an actual source of light. Given as signs to mark seasons and days and years; The perfect placement of our sun for heat and light.
In verses 14-19 God turns the years to full seasons. Before God hung the sun, moon and stars, there could be no fluctuation – no ebb and flow of the tides – no changing of days. All there could be was the passing of time.
I hear people complain about the meaninglessness of life. Some get to the point that they’re even ready to give up on life – not for it’s hardships, but just it’s boredom; it’s monotony. No purpose.
That’s what King Solomon found whenever he looked at life on earth without reference to God. You read his search in the Book of Ecclesiastes. He says "meaningless, meaningless – life is meaningless". It’s all in vain - it’s just the passing of time. Without God we exist, but nothing more. Only God can turn empty years into full seasons.
Aren’t the seasons wonderful. Each of them has their own particular beauty. I love the seasons. My God created that. He hung the stellar bodies in place, and marked out the seasons. Only He can make the days and weeks flow together in rhythm. Only He can put meaning and purpose into life.
As a Christian we still experience difficult seasons – trials and hardships (there’s the winter as well as the spring). But God makes even those times have purpose. You soon learn that "all things are working together for good for them that love God and are the called according to His purpose." As you look back on tough times and see what God has done in your life through them, you’re even glad you went through them. God turns empty years into full seasons.
"He made the stars also" trillions upon trillions of them. As the sand on the seashores.
1.3 million earth’s can fit into our sun! 64 million of our suns can fit into a star Antares! 100 million Antares can fit into the star called Hercules! 27 Billion of our suns could fit in the largest known star called Epsilon!
Quasars – Very powerful stars, more than 350 are known to exist today.
Neutron stars – very dense, heavy – like a giant crystal. If the earth was contracted to this density it would be 328 feet in diameter.
Black holes – the collapse of a super nova. Nothing can escape, not even light! Only grows larger! In Ps. 147 God calls them all by name!
When we bring God into our world he turns lack to abundance. So far there’s no plant life – the earth has no inhabitants. On the fifth day God speaks again, and the waters teem with life – every kind of fish and sea creatures - schools and schools of millions of species and varieties. The air is filled with birds of all kinds. Then animals – so many exotic types – they fill the earth. From lack to abundance by the simple word of God’s mouth.
Domesticated animals like cattle, chickens, sheep, etc. Creatures that move along the ground; to swarm or to move. We’re told there are over 800,000 different insects! The insects will out weigh the humans by 11 times! There are over 6,000 reptiles; Over 3,000 amphibians; Over 5,000 mammals. God sure loves variety! Just look at yourself. There is no one like you. You are unique. Beasts or wild animals would include the dinosaurs. Did God only create two of each? Or did He completely populate the earth? I believe He fully populated the earth. Notice the phrase – "According to their kinds". Notice how often this phrase will be repeated.
Without God, life is impoverished. And this has nothing to do with money. You can be the richest person in America – the richest in the world – and have a bankrupt life.
God has caused the waters, and the air, and the land in my world to teem with life. The more I yield to Him, the more His creative power can be active in my life, the more abundance flows.
The six days of creation are summed up in these few verses. One of the repeated words throughout Ch. 1 is the Hebrew word for GOOD. Each day’s creative work is called good. At the end of the six days God saw everything He had made, and, behold, it was very good. These verses affirm that God has good purposes for the universe He created; that the Creator perfectly executed His will.
Skipping the other theories of evolution, I did want to say a few words about the Big Bang theory.
Big Bang has come under a lot of controversy lately. Titles of "Down with the Big Bang;" "The Big Bang Theory Explodes;" "Sorry, Big Bang Theory is a Dud." These have been titles of a few of the articles found in newspapers and science journals in the last two or three years, as the Big Bang theory has received one body blow after another, but 2 Peter 3:10 says, "-- the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up". This will be the "Big Bang."
Right off: Science and the Bible are not in conflict. The conclusions of both are sometimes biased. But we have nothing to be afraid of by honest evaluation. There are thousands of Christians who are scientist; they just so happen to be outnumbered by thousands who are evolutionists. Yet they are both looking at the same evidence.
Hugh Ross, a Christian astrophysicist, who earned his PH.D in astronomy, wrote "The work of secular scientists is the friend, not the foe, of Christians. Their efforts have given us some of the strongest evidences for our Creator, God, and Savior."
BECAUSE NEXT SUNDAYS LESSON, FROM GEN. 2, DEALS WITH THE ORIGIN OF HUMAN LIFE, WE WILL NOT DEAL WITH VERSE 26 IN TODAY’S LESSON. A.V.DAUGHERTY 08-04-02.