God's Very Good Creation

We left verse 2 last week in a state of eager anticipation.

! Our world was described as dark, a formless void, uninhabitable, undesirable in every way.

! And it's against this backdrop of a shapeless and empty wilderness that Moses

puts God's creative brilliance on display in the rest of the chapter.

It was over that dark and formless void that was hovering the only living and animate being

in the entire universe, the Spirit of God hovering in preparation to do something significant

and we're left at the end of verse 2 wondering what will he do?

What will it be like? How will he do it?

Will it be good?

And the answers to those questions come to us here in 3 to 31.

There's a real beauty to the way that Moses wrote this chapter.

It's a beauty that isn't always immediately evident in English.

The text has a remarkable symmetry and in this case actually brings a depth of meaning that

is helpful to our understanding of what's actually happening here, what we're meant to take away

from it.

Many scholars have noted that in the Hebrew text, it's uniquely arranged in multiples of seven.

Seven often being used in the scriptures to communicate perfection and completion.

And it seems to do that here in Genesis chapter 1 in a number of ways.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Most obviously, of course, is that God's work is completed in seven creation days.

Six days of creative action followed by a single day of rest that completes it and a day of enjoyment

of the created world.

But it's not just that there are seven days.

That would be significant in and of itself perhaps, but it's more than that here in this text.

We can look at the opening and closing of the section.

There's brackets here.

The opening being chapter 1 verses 1 and 2.

We studied that last week.

The closing section or portion of the section being chapter 2 verses 1 through 3.

And what we find in the Hebrew text is that it's given to us in multiples of seven.

Chapter 1 and verse 1, seven Hebrew words.

Chapter 1 and verse 2, 14 Hebrew words.

We get to the concluding section.

Chapter 2 verses 1 through 3, we find three different statements.

All equalling up to 21 Hebrew words.

There's symmetry here.

There's bracketing what is taking place here in Genesis chapter 1, intending to communicate

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

perfection, completion.

The nouns of verse 1, to take it even further, and we could go even further than this.

God, heavens, earth, all repeated in multiples of seven throughout Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

Why does that even matter?

Why would we even bring that up?

Because it's not a coincidence.

It's too significant.

It's too detailed to be a coincidence in this case.

I say all of that to say that what we have here in Genesis chapter 1 is remarkable, amazing literature

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

more than anything else, or as much as anything else.

Moses made great effort to communicate a particular message to us, not only in the words themselves,

but in the way that he arranged them in the text.

It's too magnificent to be a coincidence.

In beautiful fashion, God used Moses to communicate the story of creation in a way that brings a depth of meaning

to God's creative power and order and brilliance, perfection.

Moses is doing something not necessarily historical, strictly speaking, not necessarily scientific, strictly speaking.

He's doing something theological in Genesis chapter 1.

Genesis 1 · chapter mention

He's telling us something about God by conveying brilliantly the real history of creation.

But the beauty of the text doesn't necessarily mean that it's myth or legend.

In fact, it's distinct from the ancient mythologies and legends of other similar literature from this day and time.

It's distinct in that while it's beautiful, while it has an amazing symmetry to it,

Moses still gives it to us in the ordinary narrative prose.

He's just telling us what happened.

It's the history of the universe.

Why is he doing it?

He's doing it in a way that will hopefully increase our faith,

but primarily that it will provoke our worship.

That's the intent of the text.

Now, the structure of the creation account, of course, it tracks along six creation days.

Of course, there's all kinds of debate about the nature of these days,

whether we should consider them as six or seven literal 24-hour solar days or as something else.

I just want to say I'm not intending to get into the debate this morning,

but just to say over the centuries, two millennia,

at least six different dominant views have persisted among Christians,

all from Christians that are seriously theologically minded,

seriously gospel-focused,

wholly committed to the authority and inerrancy of the Bible.

All of them.

It's possible that these are 24-hour solar days,

that that's what we're meant to accept here in the text,

though that is not the measure of orthodoxy that some Christians seem to make.

It just isn't.

It actually seems to me that Moses was using language here

to appropriate God's creative work in a way that is analogical to our solar days,

though not necessarily identical to them.

But in either case, there are things about Genesis 1 that Christians must believe.

The nature of what these days are in their length is not one of those things.

We might liken it to the many discussions that we might would have

over perhaps the millennial age of Revelation, the end of Revelation.

There are things about the end times that we must believe.

We must believe that Jesus is coming back.

We must believe that there will be an eternal separation of the righteous and the wicked.

We must believe that he will bring a new heavens and a new earth.

What you believe about the nature of that millennium

is not unimportant, but it's not the most important thing.

I think we can look at the nature of these days the same way.

There are things about creation every Christian must believe.

We must believe that what is came from God,

that he spoke what is out of nothing,

that it all comes from his creative power,

that he holds it all together,

that he does not simply create and then step away and let natural processes take over.

No, he is intimately involved in every part of creation.

He is to be worshipped as the creator God.

The question of the days is not unimportant.

It's just not the most important.

Now, important to the structure of these days is how they're actually arranged.

Six days are grouped into two corresponding categories.

Now, think back to verse 2 that we studied last week.

We're told that the Spirit of God was hovering over the formless void,

emptiness on one hand, shapelessness on the other.

And what we find God doing in the rest of the chapter is corresponding to that condition.

In the first three days, he's forming.

He's forming the earth.

In the second three days, days four to six,

he is filling the earth that he has now formed.

And there is a unique correspondence between the two groups.

Let me just highlight them for you before we get in.

On day one, we find God forming light, separating the light from the darkness.

Corresponding with that is day four.

What do we see God doing?

Filling.

He fills the heavens with the great lights, the sun and the moon and the stars.

What are those things that he's filled the heavens with functioning as?

They are governing the light and the darkness that he has shaped and that he has formed in day one.

Day two, God is forming the atmosphere.

He's separating the waters.

On day five, what do we find him doing?

As if it's mapping right over top of those first three days.

We find on day five, he's now filling the sky with winged creatures,

this atmosphere that he has shaped and formed.

And he's filling the seas with marine life that he has shaped and formed on day two.

Then we get to day three.

God forms dry land.

And in a second creative word, God brings forth vegetation from that land that he has now formed.

And then what do we find him doing on day six?

Mapping right over top of that.

We find him filling the land that he has formed, first in a creative word with land animals.

And then in the apex of the creation narrative, we find a second creative word.

This time, it's humanity.

It's mankind.

It's human life.

So in the first three, he's forming.

He's shaping the formless void.

In the second set of days, he is filling what he's now shaped.

And all of this is to show that Yahweh is a God of power and order.

He not only creates all things, but he orders and structures life for optimal flourishing and enjoyment,

all for his glory.

He sets boundaries around each facet of the created world so that it functions in exactly the way that it must function.

And it does not rebel.

And he does it all through the power of his word.

Truly, we come to Genesis 1 and moving forward in our scriptures.

And the only conclusion is there is no God like this God.

The purpose of Genesis 1, then, is to exalt the one true creator God to provoke our unending worship.

It's a shame, then, that we can so often spend our time arguing over matters that are peripheral to the text

when its intent is to draw us into wonder and amazement at the God who created all that is.

Moses is informing our minds so that he might then, by the Spirit of God, stir our affections toward this God.

So that our study of Genesis 1 should always conclude with the exclamation of,

How great thou art.

Let's look first at forming the earth, days 1 to 3.

We come to day 1 in verse 3.

And God said,

Let there be light.

And there was light.

And God saw the light that it was good.

And God separated the light from the darkness.

God called the light day,

and the darkness he called night.

There was evening, and there was morning, the first day.

The anticipation of the spirits hovering over the formless void,

it now breaks suddenly into creative action.

And surprisingly to us, unless you've already read it before,

which I assume most of you have,

if you haven't read it, it's almost a surprise to us.

The only instrument of creation, the sole instrument,

is God's word.

It's the power of his word.

He speaks into the darkness.

He speaks into the void.

And into it comes forth light.

Let there be light.

And there was light.

Until day 4, though, there's no created source for the light.

What's actually giving the light?

What's actually separating the light from the darkness?

How could there possibly be an evening and a morning?

Those things don't come until day 4.

The implication being that God himself is the light shining into the darkness.

Interestingly, if you know your Bible well,

you will begin to pick up on the fact that the Bible both begins and ends in the same condition.

An eternal source of light emanating from the Lord God himself.

We read in Revelation 22,

We read in Revelation 22,

than just the bulb that emanates energy so that we might be able to see something in this room.

It's more than that.

The light will be represented as an image of knowledge in some cases,

as righteousness in other cases,

as life and resurrection.

All of these things being summed up in the person and the work of Jesus Christ.

It says John in John chapter 1,

John 1 · chapter mention

In him was life,

and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

A motif that should not be lost on us right here,

at the very beginning,

in verse 3.

And then what does God do with it?

He speaks the light into existence,

and then he separates the light from the darkness.

He calls the light,

day.

Day in this case,

not being a full day,

but daytime.

He separates light,

daytime,

from nighttime.

It's the first of several separations that take shape in the chapter.

This particular separation of light and dark,

night and day,

is essential for forming an inhabitable earth.

He's forming.

And Kenneth Matthew suggests that there is more for us to see here than just night and day.

Matthew says God leaves a remnant of the darkness each day as both a reminder of what existence would be like apart from God's creative act,

a dark void.

It cannot give life to itself.

But also a continual reminder

of His mercies

and how they are new

every morning.

Notice that the ordering of the day doesn't begin with morning as we typically think of.

It begins with evening.

Why?

Well, perhaps it's meant to be a signal to us

that just as God spoke light into the darkness,

each day,

evening and morning,

representing His faithfulness,

His loving kindness,

a sign of His life-giving faithfulness,

bringing us through

our anxious nights.

Is this not what the psalmist picks up on?

We studied it just a few weeks ago in Psalm 30.

Weeping may tarry for the night.

Joy comes with the morning.

Let there be light.

God's forming.

He's forming in significant ways.

We go to day two.

God continues to form.

Verse six.

And God said,

let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters.

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,

or you'll see in a footnote probably in your Bible,

or sky is the idea here.

Not the place where God dwells

and sits on His throne,

His heavenly court,

but literally the sky that we see above us.

And there was evening and there was morning,

a second day.

So on day two,

God creates the atmosphere that surrounds the earth.

He calls it sky, heaven.

And another separation takes place.

Did you see it?

It's a separation this time of the waters.

There are waters that are below the expanse.

That would be the waters that are on the earth.

And then there is waters that are in or above the expanse.

What is that?

Different suggestions have certainly been made.

How would the wandering Israelites

in the midst of the wilderness at Sinai

understood Moses writing the separation of these waters?

Clouds that contain water,

that eventually drop water in the form of dew and rain.

That's what God is doing.

This is important for us.

God is not only forming matter itself.

He's forming the laws of nature

that will govern the world that He created.

We have here on day two,

water cycles that through scientific investigation now,

we fully understand the evaporation of the waters

that are on the earth to contain the clouds

that are eventually poured out on the earth once again,

so that it can sustain itself.

All the work of the creator God,

forming, fashioning a world

that is no longer shapeless and void,

but is glorious.

This is the wonderful care of God

who perfectly designed a world

that functions in itself to sustain life.

Says the psalmist again in Psalm 147,

He covers the heavens with clouds.

He prepares rain for the earth.

Day three, verse nine.

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 or land or dirt.

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,

two kinds,

plants yielding seed,

and then fruit trees bearing fruit

that has their seed,

each according to its kind.

And it was so.

The earth brought forth vegetation,

plants yielding seed according to their own kinds,

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.

The third day of God forming the earth

is unique, at least in this sense.

There's two creative acts here,

two creation words here.

The first word,

verses nine and 10,

commands a separation between the waters

that are under the earth.

So remember,

day two,

He separates the waters that are below the expanse

from the waters that are in or above the expanse.

Now He focuses His attention on the waters that are below.

And He separates them,

He gathers them into seas and lakes and rivers

and what have you,

and He separates from those waters the dry land.

And He names it.

He names one the earth,

He names the other the seas.

And then comes a second creative word.

It's on the same day.

This one's in 11 to 13.

He calls us the land then to bring forth vegetation

that He then separates again into kinds.

Again, God is forming not only matter,

but the systems that govern life in His world.

He's fashioning, He's shaping,

He's forming an inhabitable and desirable world.

Amazingly,

this vegetation is designed by God to replenish itself.

No doubt as a result of the light from day one

and the waters from day two.

He's forming,

He's fashioning.

Notice, however,

there is no mention here

of a mother earth.

The earth itself is not divine.

It does not contain the soul of God.

Its fruitfulness does not come

as a result of mankind praying toward it,

nor does its barrenness come

as its displeasure with humanity

in the way that humans are then treating it.

This is a polemic for Israel

against the pagan deities.

Each day,

representing a different deity

that they would have known,

particularly in their time in Egypt.

It's a polemic against them.

When they get into Canaan land,

they will face this particular dilemma again

with the gods that reign in Canaan culture

and in Canaan civilization.

Lewd and crude and ridiculous acts of worship

that might stimulate Baal and Ashtoreth

to somehow bring some kind of fruitfulness

to the land of Canaan.

And Moses says right from the beginning,

before you get there,

you need to know the fertility of the land.

It doesn't come from Baal.

It doesn't come from Ashtoreth.

It doesn't come from Mother Earth.

It comes from the creator God.

It comes from Yahweh.

Yahweh alone.

It is God alone who creates

and sustains the world in which we live.

And the fruitfulness of the earth

is under his sovereign control.

God is forming.

He's fashioning.

And he's reigning over what he forms and fashions.

And then we get to the second half.

Three more days are listed here for us.

This time God moves from forming to filling.

Now there's a distinction between the two.

There's different things in some cases

that are happening in the filling of the earth.

Let me just highlight them for you

before we walk through the days.

The first difference is that the creations

on days four to six are animate.

They are demonstrating life

in a way that is distinct

from the vegetation even of day three.

There's motion here.

We see the repetition of living beings

on days five and six

in which is the, quote, breath of life.

They are living creatures

in a way that's distinct

from the rest of creation.

But even the celestial bodies of day four,

though not living beings in the same sense,

give the appearance of animation

from the earth, don't they?

The perspective of Genesis chapter one

is of us standing on the earth

and watching all of this happen around us.

As we look up to the sun

and to the moon and to the stars,

we see motion, right?

It's not that they're living beings

in the same way.

Genesis one doesn't say that they are.

But it tracks here, doesn't it?

If they're in motion,

they're animated in some sense,

at least from our perspective.

The second difference

is that God does not name the things

in days four to six

with one exception.

Men.

Now, why is that important?

In the ancient world,

naming something communicated authority

over the thing named.

You know, it's not that God

does not exercise authority

over the whole of creation,

but what we're gonna see happen

in chapter two

is God delegating the authority

of naming to Adam,

his image bearer.

However,

the image bearer himself

remains under the direct

sovereign authority

of the creator.

He is not a God unto himself.

A vice regent,

we might call him.

Imaging God

with a delegated authority

that he might have dominion

over the created world.

There's a third difference though.

A final significant change

is in the addition

of divine blessing,

a stated blessing

on days five and day six.

A blessing

that specifically relates

to procreation.

God blesses the living creatures

with not only the ability,

but the responsibility

to multiply

and to continue

to fill the earth

that he has now formed.

Let's look at day four,

verse 14.

And God said,

let there be lights

in the expanse of the heavens

to separate the day

from the night.

Let them be for signs

and for seasons,

for days and years.

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.

Notice he doesn't name them here.

Sun and moon, of course.

The greater light

to rule the day,

the lesser light

to rule the night.

And then almost

as a throwaway statement,

and the stars.

We'll get to that in a second.

God set them

in the expanse

of the heavens

to give light on the earth,

to rule over the day

and over the night,

to separate the light

from the darkness.

And God saw

that it was good.

And there was evening

and there was morning

a fourth day.

So corresponding

with the forming

of light

and darkness

on day one

is the creation

of the heavenly bodies

that we understand

to govern them.

There were two great lights,

the sun,

the moon,

as well as

a multitude of stars.

Their primary function

is to give light,

or at least

to reflect light.

But they're also there

to aid in navigation,

we see.

To cause seasonal changes

that are necessary

for sustained life.

We might pray

to the God

who created them

that this next season

would hurry up

so we can stop

with these 100 degree days

in September.

They provide a means

of charting days

and years.

Ian Duggett says

the function

of these heavenly bodies

is carefully limited

to providing services

to those on earth.

In other words,

they are not

to be served,

they are here

to serve us.

They have no independent

status as deities.

The stars

which were conceived

by many in antiquity

to control

human destinies

are almost

an afterthought here.

Although the heavenly lights

are good

and useful

to humanity,

there is nothing

in their nature

that deserves

worship and praise,

he says.

A significant statement

to the wandering Israelites

in the wilderness

having just come

from 400 years

of captivity

in pagan Egypt.

Loved ones,

your life

is not governed

by the alignment

of the planets

or the position

of the stars.

Throw away

your horoscopes.

It's pagan.

They're all

but creations

ruled by the God

of the Bible

who alone

is worthy

of worship,

who alone

rules your days.

Go to him.

Pray to him.

Cling to him.

Worship him

alone.

Day 5,

verse 20.

And God said,

let the water swarm

with swarms

of living creatures.

Let the birds

fly above the earth

across the expanse

of the heavens.

So God created

the great sea creatures,

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

and the seas

and let birds

multiply on the earth.

And there was evening

and there was morning

the fifth day.

Corresponding

to day 2

and the creation

of the sky

and the separation

of the waters

are the creatures

that are now brought

to life

on day 5.

skulls of fish

swarming

in the seas

and in the waters.

The great sea creatures

perhaps even

the Leviathan

that we read of

in other

Old Testament texts.

The ones that keep me

from actually getting

in the water

when I go to the beach

all created here

on day 5.

And then he fills

the sky,

doesn't he?

All kinds of bird life,

winged creatures,

creatures.

And again,

they're all but creatures

who serve the purpose

of the creator.

They are not gods themselves.

They do not represent

gods themselves.

And then here is

the first statement

of blessing,

a divine blessing.

God instructs

the creatures

of the air

and the sea

to multiply

and to fill

the respective environments

so that the ability

to perpetuate life

is presented

from the very beginning

as God's glorious favor,

something to be honored,

something to be

perhaps even pursued,

something to be held

in high esteem

and guarded

and protected,

a theme

that is going to continue

all throughout Genesis

and the rest of the Bible.

We're going to see this

again and again

and again.

The blessing of God

linked

to childbearing.

There's a reason

we find later

in the book of Genesis

over and over

women in the stories

who are barren

and they grieve

as a result.

This is a blessing

from God.

The blessing

of Isaac,

the blessing

of Jacob,

the blessing

of their children

is the blessing

of God.

It's the favor

of God.

It's the goodness

of God.

Day six.

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 beast

of the earth

according to their kinds,

the livestock

according to their kinds

and everything

that creeps

on the ground

according to its kind

and God saw

that it was good.

But then he continues

another creative word

and 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 every creeping thing

that creeps

on the earth.

And here we have

a break

from narrative prose

and we have poetry.

So God created man

in his own image.

In the image of God,

he created him.

Male and female,

he created them.

And another word

of blessing.

And God blessed them.

And God said to them,

be fruitful

and multiply,

fill the earth

and subdue it.

Have dominion

over the fish

of the sea.

Have dominion

over the birds

of the heavens.

Have dominion

over every living thing

that moves on the earth.

And God said,

behold,

I have also given you

every green plant

yielding seed

that is on the face

of all the earth.

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.

Like day three,

day six

has two creative words.

Of course,

the first one

is the creation

of animal life,

the separation

of kinds.

There's livestock,

the domesticated animals

that will be useful

to man.

There's the creepy crawlers

that I don't know

why they're useful

to man.

They glorify God.

There's the wild beast

of the earth,

all created

in the first word,

separated.

And then comes

the second creative word.

More space

is given

to this part

of creation

than any other part

of the entire chapter,

the entire account.

Everything in Genesis 1

is pressing forward

to this climax

of the whole account.

This is the apex

of the whole thing.

On day six,

God crowns his creation

with human life,

with humanity.

We're going to come back

to this next week

and we're going to look

at 26 to 31

on its own.

But for our study

this morning,

for its own sake,

there's just a couple

of things that we should note.

That God creates humanity

as his own image bearers

is of utmost importance

in the biblical text,

not only here,

but moving forward from here.

The inerrant dignity

of human life

from the womb

to the tomb

is predicated

throughout the scriptures

on the fact

that human beings

are distinct

from everything else

in God's created world.

We are not a higher form

of animal life.

We bear the very image

of the creator

that is to be

perpetually communicated

to the rest of the universe

in the way that we live

and in the way

that we worship.

We represent him.

We image him.

We mirror him.

And with this image

bearing distinction

comes the unique privilege

in the text

of exercising dominion

over the created world

on God's behalf.

This distinction

in human life

begins to lay a foundation

that is necessary

for us to understand

the whole point

of the Bible,

which takes us

to one image bearer.

the person

of Jesus Christ,

the truest image bearer

who will come

and redeem

fallen humanity

from sin

and death.

The foundation

for the person

of Christ

is being laid here

for us to understand.

It's revealed

in the Gospels.

It's explained

in the epistles,

Hebrews chapter 1.

Hebrews 1 · chapter mention

He, Jesus,

is the radiance

of the glory of God,

the exact imprint

of his nature.

And he upholds

the universe

by the word

of his power.

And after making

purifications for sin,

he sits down

at the right hand

of the majesty on high.

This is laying

the foundation

for us to understand

the person of Christ

and who he truly is

so that we might

understand

our own salvation

from the fallenness

that we will find

in chapter 3.

We find humanity

here is also blessed

to enjoy the benefits

of what God created

the earth

to produce for them.

God sustains them

along with land creatures

with the vegetation

from day 3.

This doesn't necessarily

demand that

all creatures

were essentially

vegetarians

until the fall.

That's not the takeaway here.

The takeaway is that

God has made the earth

and its resources

for the good

and pleasure

of mankind.

He has created

a world

that is pregnant

with resources

for us

to sustain life

and to enjoy life.

And he alone does it

as the creator

of all that exists.

David Helm

in a sermon

on Genesis 1

said this.

The chapter

is to make us

bow

in humble adoration.

How it is

that we have

turned it

into a chapter

of argumentative

wrangling

is only an indication

of how little

we understand

the author's intent

in writing.

I heard him

say that in a sermon

and I took out

about a thousand words

I put in here.

It's so true

isn't it?

Would you just

consider for a moment

how is it

that we're to reflect

on Genesis 1?

What is the real intent

of the text here?

Would you just consider

for a moment

how every other

biblical author

references

Genesis 1

and what they're doing?

Interestingly

they never engage

in disputes

over the nature

of the days.

They never engage

in disputes

over the sequence

of events.

They never engage

in the compatibility

of the text

with the finer points

of scientific investigation.

That's not what

the biblical authors do

because they knew

that's not what

Moses meant

for them to do.

The point of the text

was never to produce

that kind of exchange.

Each time creation

is referenced

in the biblical authors

it is to display

the glory of God.

It is to provoke

the reader.

It is to provoke

the hearer

to genuine worship.

You should always

walk away

from Genesis 1

saying

what a God

how great

thou art.

Has it driven you

to this kind

of worship?

It's one thing

to understand

the God

of Genesis 1.

It's one thing

to understand

the created world

of Genesis 1.

It's another thing

to actually worship

Him.

That's what

we're meant to do.

Says Psalm 33

By the word

of the Lord

the heavens were made.

By the breath

of His mouth

all their hosts

He gathers

the waters

of the seas

as a heap.

He puts the deeps

in storehouses.

And here's what He says

Therefore

let all the earth

fear the Lord.

Let all the inhabitants

of the world

stand in awe

of Him

for He spoke

and it came

to be

He commanded

and it stood firm.

That's the intent

of Genesis 1.

Worship.

Hang with me.

He controls

the rain

doesn't He?

We're almost there.

the point of the text

is to show

that the self-existent

transcendent creator

God

needs nothing

other than

His own will

voiced through

the breath

of His spirit

to bring what is

into existence.

And when He speaks

His will

is perfectly accomplished

whether in the creation

of a universe

or in the new creation

of a lost soul

that He calls

to Himself

that is the power

of the Word of God.

And it is to show

that what God does

is very good

because He

is good.

So that when we consider

God's very good creation

the only right response

is wonder

and worship

and how do we relate

that to everyday life

now?

I'm going to give you

four quick things

before we pray.

Number one

rest

in His sovereign power

until Jesus returns

this earth

will keep on spinning.

Its boundaries

will be held together.

Don't worry about

the ice caps.

God's in control

of that.

Rest in it.

Rest in His sovereign power.

Number two

go in and enjoy

what He has made.

Enjoy it.

Enjoy it

with the goal

of worshiping Him

because of it.

And I say that

as an avid

indoors man.

let's go enjoy

the world

He has created

for our benefit

and for His glory.

Number three

trust that the one

who made the world

will through Christ

remake it

for His people.

He will remake it.

He still rules creation.

He is the final judge.

Every injustice

you see now

will be judged.

He will do it.

You only need

trust Him.

Number four

rest.

Rest.

rest in Christ.

The word of Genesis 1

made flesh

for you.

Rest in Him.

Trust Him.

Believe Him.

Worship Him.

the God

who made it all.

Let's pray.