Creation

Genesis 1:1-25

Matthew Henry wrote, “The scriptures, or writings of the several inspired penmen, from Moses down to St. John, in which divine light, like that of the morning, shone gradually (the sacred canon being now completed), are all put together in this blessed Bible, which, thanks be to God, we have in our hands, and they make as perfect a day as we are to expect on this side of heaven. Every part was good, but all together very good." And it is very good for us to be able to study the Bible. It is the best book ever written.

The Psalmist wrote “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” By studying this book you find direction for your life. You will also find the ability to overcome sin through it, “How shall a young man cleanse his ways? By taking heed according to Thy word.” Christian Johnson said, “A Bible that's falling apart probably belongs to someone who isn't.”

It is relevant for you today. For it speaks to you today. The book of Hebrews tells us that “…the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” AW Tozer said, “A new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is… a book which is now speaking.”

It is a book about people and for people. J. Vernon McGee said, “It is a very human Book, written by men from all walks of life, prince and pauper, the highly intellectual and the very simple.” At the same time it is a book about God and how to know God. McGee further said, :It is a God-Book. In the Bible God says twenty-five hundred times, ‘God said . . . the Lord has said . . . thus saith the Lord,’ and so on. God has made it very clear that He is speaking through this Book.”

When you come to the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we find that it is critical in understanding where we come from, and where we are, and how we got here.

The Beginning is God Genesis 1:1

God was before the beginning. Just read what verse one says. “In the beginning God created…” God was there. In order for Him to be the creator He had to be there. Genesis 1:1 assumes the fact that God was there. We don’t see a lot of examples or reasons or proofs; just a simple statement that God was the creator.

What was He doing during that time before He created? The Bible does not give us a lot of pre-creation information. But what it does reveal tells us a lot about God.

Once when Jesus was praying to the Father, He said, “You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Love existed before time. The Father and the Son loved each other. Furthermore, there was glory. Jesus also prayed,” Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” So we know that before anything else there was love and there was glory.

Not only was God there, and that He was loving, and full of glory, but He also was in the process of choosing. Ephesians 1:4 tells us, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” This verse reveals that God loves you. How often do we forget this. We tend to think that God loves others, but not me. Why do we do that? I think it is because we know ourselves. We know that we don’t pray enough, read enough, help old ladies across the street enough. We know we’ve got issues.

But God very simply wants you to know that He loves you. He has been thinking of you before time ever began. And now, finally, after all this wait, you are here and God wants to love on you.

“But you don’t understand, I’m such a failure,” you may say. That is ok. God had a back up plan before you ever blew it. I Peter 1:19-20 says, “He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world.” God had a plan to win you even though you would get lost. God was there at the very beginning, and God was thinking of of you.

The Days of Creation- Genesis 1:1~25

I love when people come up with an idea and then make it. I don’t know where they get their ideas from, but I do know that when it comes to my mind, it is not nearly as fertile as many. Even my son can dream better than me. People get these ideas going like the paper clip. A secretary was frustrated to have her papers constantly falling loose. So thus the paper clip. And the list goes on from mouse traps to the next space shuttle.

But even with all the new patents that are being constantly made, a verse cries out from the Old Testament of the Bible saying, “There is nothing new under the sun.” When I read that for the first time I said to myself Ya right! What about the car. Da!!! I know now that what Solomon wrote was a piece of poetry, and thus must be given that poetic license. But, not too long ago I was in a book store that had a book called God Thought Of It First. So I picked it up and it went on to explain that everything that we make is just an elaboration on what God has already made. Have you seen the Garfield window toy? We put this thing called a suction cup on a stuffed orange cat and it holds tight to the window. But that was not a new idea created by some novelty shop, God made it first, and He put it all up and down the arms of an octopus. An airplane? There was first a bird. A jet propulsion unit? A giant squid. God made it all. Let’s take a look at God’s days of creation.

Days 1-2

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and he 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 a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day. Genesis 1:1-8

The first recorded words of God. “Let there be light.” God brings light into our lives. Many of use get in such a fog that we are unable to see our hands in front of our faces. So much so that we make these terrible choices with our lives because we just don’t see things correctly. But God separated the light from the darkness.

Then God creates the firmament. There is a word that we don’t use every day. Simply put, it would be our atmosphere. But it was a bit more than what we have today. It would be kind of like an atmosphere on steroids. Most scientists believe that there was at one time a canopy of mist that once covered the earth. What this canopy did was water every inch of the planet so that it had a perfect climate to grow anything. Which is why we have fossil records of places in Canada in which tropical plants grew. We know that because in the stomach of the woolly mammoth scientists found undigested tropical plants.

The result of having this canopy covering the earth was the deflection of ultra-violet radiation from the sun. The rays from the sun is one of the greatest influences on the aging process (the number one cause of aging is having too many birthdays). Studies showed that if milk is protected from the radiation of the sun, it can be stored at room temperature for months on end. That is one reason why we have records in the book of Genesis of people living to such old age. Adam made it to 800, while Enosh lived to 905, and Methuselah reached the record of 969.

This is also a great explanation to the size of creatures like brontosaurus of the T-Rex. The word dinosaur means terrible lizard. The thing about lizards is that they are a creature that continues to grow till the day they die. At the time of this writing I have living in our home a green iguana. This reptile has a growth expectancy of about six to seven feet long, with a life expectancy of 12 years. What if this same creature could live for 500 years!

Days 3-4

And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.
Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. 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 vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day. Genesis 9-19

This is an interesting thing. Geologist will tell us that the dry land is a result of plates on the crust of the earth rubbing together pushing the earth up away from the center of the earth. This fascinates me because it lines up precisely with the Genesis account. Water covered the face of the earth and then God brings up the land. When science and the Bible intersect, we find that there is never a contridiction.

Next we see the vegetation is created. The account says, “the earth bring forth grass the herb that yields seed.” And what a great job it does at doing that. If you were to take just one kernel of corn and plant it and let it grow to maturity, then if you took all the corn that it produced and planted them and do the same, in a matter of just six years you would be able to cover the entire face of the earth with corn. I know that sounds corny, but it is true!

“…according to its kind.” This just happens to be the biggest problem for evolution. With all the billions of seeds that are planted every year for the centuries on end, the seeds have always produce exactly what was planted. Now if you were to plant that kernel of corn and up sprang a cheery tree, then you would have example of evolution. But that has never happened. Wheat seeds always produce wheat, rice seeds grows rice, orange seeds grows orange trees, and so on. This just doesn’t change. It is like they are preprogrammed to reproduce what they already are. Kind of like they are part of a design.

Next came the sun, moon and the stars. The lights of the skies. Which brings up an interesting question: Where was the light coming from before? Here we see the incredible power God revealed. He is not in need of anything to accomplish His purposes. If people stop praising Him, the Bible says that the rocks will cry out. When God says that He wants to do something in your life, you can know that He can take care of it.

Days 5-7

And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. Genesis 1:20-25

God created living beings. One of the things that is absolutely amazing about animals is their instinct.  Who told them or taught them to do the things that they do? Take the salmon, for example. How does a salmon know to leave the relative safety of a stream to live a life at sea a thousand miles from land and then to return to the very spot from which it was spawned? The Golden Pluber spends its summers in the Allusion Islands and then flies off to Hawaii for the winter (which is where I ought to spend my winters). Who told it? And then what about the Monarch butterfly. It literally takes four (!) generations to complete one full migration from Mexico to Canada and back. And each generation of butterfly has never flown their path before. God’s fingerprints can be seen everywhere.

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