"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."
The Bible starts with a very simple statement of the existence of God and his work as the Creator of all things. This account has some similarities to the creation accounts of the cultures surrounding Israel but the differences are much greater. In fact, this account is a polemic against the other creation accounts. There is not war between gods which results in creation. Instead we see the all-powerful Creator speaking and giving function to creation. Verse one should be taken as a summary statement of the account instead of the first act of creation. Since it is taken this way, creatio ex nihilo of matter is not proclaimed in this account. The origin of matter was not as important to the people in the Ancient Near East as it was to the Greeks or to us. They were concerned more with who gave everything its function. Now, I am not denying creatio ex nihilo but just that it is supported in this account. It is supported in the New Testament in Colossians 1:16-17, John 1:3, and Hebrews 11:3.
The creation account follows an organized structure based upon the condition of the heavens and earth in verse 2. They are declared as formless and void. In the first three days, God forms the heavens and the earth. In the second three days God fills the heavens and earth. We see throughout this account God separating and giving function to creation.
In day one, God made light and separated it into light and darkness. He named the light day and the darkness night. It then mentions that it was the first day. A note here is that whenever the word "day" is used in the Old Testament, it always means a regular solar day when used with a number (1st, 2nd, etc.).
In day two, God separated the waters below from the waters above. In doing so he made the sky and called this expanse heaven. This includes the atmosphere along with space much as we would talk about the sky as the atmosphere but also use it in describing the stars in the night sky.
In day three, God separated the water from the dry land. He called the water seas and the dry land Earth. Then God commanded that the land would bring forth plants.
In day four, God created the light bearers: sun, moon and stars. These had the purpose of separating the day and the night and to be for signs, seasons, days, years, etc. God did not name the sun and moon, but rather called them the greater light and the lesser light. The peoples around Israel worshiped the sun and moon. God is showing that he is their Creator.
In day five, God created the sea creatures and the birds. In this way God filled the water and sky. God mentioned that he made the great sea creatures which those around Israel which believed these would war against the gods to bring about chaos. God blessed them with procreation.
In day six, God created the land animals. He made the livestock, small animals and larger wild animals. God made them all. Later he shows how he made man, but we will save that for next week.
When God created he called it good. God made things good. Sin marred them into what we see today. We see through this account that God made the land which would grow plants and the animals which would be livestock. God made what would bring them gain and they should trust him instead of trusting in some pagan fertility rite to bring prosperity. Knowing that God is Creator should cause us to worship him and trust him with our lives. Will you?
If you would like to watch these sermons they are available on Youtube:
Genesis Part 1
Genesis Part 2
No comments:
Post a Comment