Creator And Creatures

We just finished our sermon series in the Gospel of John.

Steve hopefully wrapped that up last week in my absence.

I miss being with you guys.

I'm glad to be back to be able to bring God's word to you.

We'll be going through the book of Genesis.

We'll finish the book in the fall sometime,

and just in time for the celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.

We'll probably have a different series lined up for that.

And Genesis has 50 chapters.

It's divided into three major sections.

Chapters 1 to 11 are about the primeval history.

12 to 36 is about the patriarchs, the time of the patriarchs, starting with Abraham.

And then 37 to 50 is about the times of Joseph.

And this book is written not just to recount the beginning of the universe,

but the beginning of God's redemptive history.

That's really its focus.

of how God began this process of, through Israel, bringing about the Messiah,

bringing about his redemptive plan to save and to bless all nations.

But before we dive into it, we need to first address the elephant in the room.

Because in the aftermath of the fundamentalist, kind of modernist controversy in the 20th century,

where the fundamentalists were saying that, you know,

where the modernists were arguing that some of these antiquated doctrines in scripture

need to be modified or dismissed altogether.

And the fundamentalist dug their heels in and then fired back and said

that those liberal elites in academia are conspiring to engage in a smear campaign of the Bible and Bible-believing Christians.

So because of this kind of conflict, now we're at a time where evolution kind of functions as a litmus test

for Christian or scientific orthodoxy.

So if you believe it, then you're with them, the irreverent atheists.

And if you deny it, then you're with them, right?

The fundamentalistic ignoramuses, right?

So the unfortunate result of this is that every reader of Genesis 1 comes to the book with Darwin's Origin of Species in mind

when the book that was written 3,500 years ago clearly did not have that at the forefront of its mind.

So let me point out first that science and religion do not have to be.

They're not necessarily mutually exclusive.

Let me begin with that.

A scientific explanation for something doesn't mean that there can't be religious or supernatural explanation for it.

I've used the example before of the analogy used by geologist Frank Rhodes

when you asked the question, why is the kettle boiling?

There's two proper answers to that question.

The first answer is PV equals NRT, the laws of thermodynamics.

You apply energy to the matter and it heats up and then it comes to a boiling point.

And another appropriate and legitimate answer is that someone just wanted to boil some tea, right?

Those are both correct answers.

And this is why the Bible describes in Psalm 139 that he formed the inward parts and knits us together in the mother's womb, right?

God does that.

But we also know scientifically of the process of fertilization, of embryogenesis.

So those things should teach us that first of all principle.

On principle, those two things are not mutually exclusive necessarily.

And then secondly, I want to point out to you that evolution does not purport to explain the origin of life.

Book of Genesis does, or origin of species doesn't.

It's called the origin of species for a reason.

It's not called the origin of life.

And Darwin readily admitted this, his profound ignorance of the subject in the book, by using the word created.

And because he used such terms, he was criticized by his peers, his academic peers, because they called it this.

He said Darwin resorted to Pentateuchal terms.

Pentateuch is the first five books of the Bible.

As the primordial form into which life was first breathed.

And Darwin responded to his critics in this way in one of his papers.

Let us face the problem boldly.

He who believes that organic beings have been produced during each geological period from dead matter must believe that the first being thus arose.

There must have been a time when inorganic elements alone existed on our planet.

Let any assumptions be made such as that the reeking atmosphere was charged with carbonic acid, nitrogenized compounds, phosphorus, and company.

Now is there a fact or a shadow of a fact supporting the belief that these elements, without the presence of any organic compounds,

and acted on only by known forces, could produce a living creature?

At present, it is to us a result absolutely inconceivable.

Your reviewer sneers with justice at my use of the Pentateuchal terms of one primordial form into which life was first breathed.

In a purely scientific work, I ought perhaps not to have used such terms,

but they well serve to confess that our ignorance is as profound on the origin of life as on the origin of force or matter.

With that said, I'm not saying that there's no point of tension between science and religion,

and between creation and evolution, and we will see some of those as we go through this chapter.

However, it is important to note that they're not on principle necessarily mutually exclusive.

With that said, what should be the proper posture of Christians towards scientific findings that seem to contradict Scripture?

On the one hand, if I think we have both of these, and I could go one side or another as well.

On the one hand, if your response to such findings, if your response is immediately embarrassment, apology,

and a frantic exegetical acrobatics to explain away everything that's in the Bible,

or to disbelieve the Bible altogether, then you need to grow in your faith,

and you need to grow a backbone, right, and in your trust in God's Word as the inspired Word of God.

So 2 Timothy 3, 16, 17,

It's sufficient for us, and it is all wholly inspired.

So if you have a flimsy, just nominal commitment to the authority of Scripture,

then you're merely following the latest fads in pop science.

Then the functional authority of your life is not God, but man.

And you're going to be tossed to and fro by the ways of changing doctrine in the world.

Scientific discoveries don't happen in a vacuum.

They are always influenced and sometimes motivated by the ever-changing spirit of the times.

And it takes decades, sometimes even centuries, to test and establish hypotheses.

It took 1,500 years to overturn the Aristotelian geocentric model of the universe.

On the other hand, if your response is to apparent contradictions between science and Scripture is fear,

rigid opposition, and a frantic Google search to find every obscurantist fact to undermine the scientific findings,

then you need to grow in your humility and develop some nimbleness.

Because God's Word is truth, and His Spirit is a spirit of truth,

so we do not need to be apprehensive of honest investigations of the truth in all spheres of life.

And we need to remember that the divine inspiration of Scripture does not preclude human interpretation of Scripture.

The Scripture itself is infallible, but that doesn't mean our interpretation of it is infallible.

So then we should be ready and willing to prayerfully search and research the Scriptures,

to reexamine our interpretive traditions.

If not, we may become like the Pharisees whom Jesus indicted of making void the Word of God by their tradition that they have handed down.

And I bring to mind also, recall how the Roman Catholic Church once condemned heliocentrism as a heresy that contradicts Scripture.

It condemned Galileo Galilei, forced him to recant his views.

And then in 1992, Pope John Paul II apologized and formally expressed regret for that finding.

So then a proper posture as we encounter such contradictions is both unyielding theological convictions about the authority of Scripture

and both also a humility about our own interpretation of it

and a commitment to search and research the Scriptures with a judicious listening ear to the findings of science.

Now with that said, I don't mean to say that they're equal authorities.

Scripture is the prior and more fundamental authority.

And so it's not a circle where you keep going back and forth between two competing authorities.

Rather, what grounds us is Scripture and you dialogue back and forth with the goal that you spiral down to the true meaning of the text,

what God's Word teaches in the end.

And far from being preoccupied with the age of the earth

and the geological, chemical, and biological processes implied by God's creation,

Moses is preoccupied with asserting a more foundational truth.

He's frying for a bigger fish with the book of Genesis.

And that's this, that God is the sole creator and ruler of the heavens and the earth

who appoints man to represent and resemble him on earth.

That's the main point of Genesis 1.

And we'll find out first about God's creation and rule,

and then secondly about man's call to represent and resemble him.

So God's creation and rule.

So Moses' first order of business is to establish the truth of God's creation and rule.

So he begins in verse 1, perhaps the most famous passage in all of literature.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

In the beginning was not some primordial soup or inorganic ooze.

In the beginning was God.

God is before all things.

And the word and the context suggests absolute beginning,

before anything existed, before time itself, from before eternity passed.

This is the beginning that God established.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

And it says God created.

In the Bible, the word here translated as created is never used of anyone else.

No one else in the Bible creates.

Only God is said to create in the Bible.

And in this context, it implies not just any kind of creation.

It implies unique, absolute creation.

Creation out of nothing.

Right?

So, of course, we also create things.

We make things.

We can rearrange matter.

We can make things react with each other.

We can even clone matter.

But we can't create out of nothing.

That's a uniquely divine prerogative.

And here, God creates.

And whether you believe that God created the world in six days or six ages

or through the process of evolution,

you have to reckon with the fact that it is God who created.

He is the author of creation.

He is the designer.

And as such, there is purpose, meaning.

The world is not an accidental collocation of atoms.

It was created by God, designed by him for a purpose.

And what did God create?

It says the heavens and the earth.

The heaven denotes God's figurative abode,

and earth denotes man's abode.

And this is a literary device called merism,

where you refer to two ends of an extreme,

two extremes,

to refer to everything that's in between.

So, for example, when we say young and old,

we don't just mean young and old people,

but we mean everyone, people of all ages.

So when he says heavens and the earth,

he means God created everything.

There's nothing that exists that was not created by God himself.

In verse 2 and the following,

he describes the details of his creation.

He says,

The earth was without form and void,

and darkness was over the face of the deep,

and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Now, this doesn't mean that earth and water existed before God's creative work.

Rather, this is the first stage of that creative work

that verse 1 told us about.

Without form and void,

it sounds like what it means in Hebrew.

It literally sounds like tohu bohu.

It's like topsy-turvy.

That's the kind of way we might translate it.

It means that it was wasted and uninhabited.

Or we could call it uninhabitable and uninhabited.

It's a chaotic wasteland at first,

and then God subsequently imposes his will,

his order on this earth.

And like a ray of sunlight pierces darkness,

out of the darkness,

God speaks in verses 3 to 5,

Let there be light.

And there was light.

And God saw that the light 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.

Now, we know,

having gone through John,

that scripture writers often use the metaphor of light and darkness

to refer to spiritual light and darkness.

And so here,

there's a distinct preference for light expressed,

because God doesn't say that the darkness was good.

He says the light was good.

He separates the light from the darkness.

Now, here in verse 3,

verses 3 to 5,

really,

we find the standard kind of creation formula

that you see over and over again,

that repeat throughout the book,

throughout the chapter 1.

So first,

there's the announcement of God's speech,

and it was really helpful to have Sarah and Will read that together,

because you could really see those patterns.

And the first is the announcement of God's speech.

God said.

That's the first formula.

And that occurs a total of 10 times,

but if you count only his creative speech,

it occurs 7 times.

And that's intentional.

Secondly,

there's the command itself,

Let there be so and so.

That occurs 8 times.

But once again,

if you count only his creative speech,

and not the time when he says,

talks,

and says,

Let us make God in his image,

that's 7 times also.

Now, third,

there's the fulfillment,

and there was so and so.

So God said,

Let there be so,

and now there was so and so,

or and it was so.

That occurs 7 times.

And then there is,

fourth,

there's the observation or description of God's creative act,

and God made something,

something.

That occurs 7 times.

Fifth,

there is God's delight,

in his creation.

God saw that it was good.

That also occurs 7 times.

And sixth,

there is a subsequent naming or blessing.

God called it so and so,

or God blessed them.

That also occurs 7 times,

as you can guess.

And seventh part of the formula,

there is an observation of the number of day.

The first day,

the second day,

and so on.

And that also occurs 7 times.

And usually,

it's preceded by,

and there was evening,

and there was morning.

There is an intentional symmetry at work here.

Right?

The purposeful groupings of 7.

Well,

you might say,

well,

of course,

there's going to be groups of 7,

because the creation happens in 7 days.

Well,

that's actually not exactly what's going on,

because there's only 6 days of creation.

There's some parts of the formula that's missing in other parts,

but it's supplemented in other parts to make,

still make,

fulfill the number 7.

So,

seventh paradigm is intentional.

And why does Moses,

whom we believe is the author of the book,

write it this way?

Because,

we know from Exodus 20,

8 to 11,

remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

6 days you shall labor,

and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God,

on it you shall not do any work.

And the reason given for it,

for in 6 days the Lord made heavens and earth,

the sea and all that is in them,

and he rested on the seventh day.

You have to remember that the original intended audience of the book of Genesis,

of course,

is intended for us in the future as well,

were the Israelites in the wilderness.

And so,

this paradigm of 7 days of creation,

or 6 days of creation,

and 7th day of rest,

is the paradigm,

the pattern that the Israelites are invited to follow.

So,

these days represent God's working days,

and the 7th day represents God's rest,

day of rest.

He chooses this intentionally.

And if you think about it,

the 7,

the week that we observe,

the 7 days in the week,

is very unusual,

and it's very unnatural,

actually,

right?

It's,

there's only cultures in the world that have a word,

for the word week,

are cultures that have had some contact with Christianity,

with the book of Genesis.

Like,

a year makes sense,

right?

Astronomically,

because that's how long it takes for the earth to make one orbit around the sun.

A month makes sense,

because it makes,

it's,

it refers to lunar cycle,

the moon cycle.

A day makes sense,

because it's how long the earth takes to rotate on its axis.

All of these make sense,

astronomically,

except for a week.

Why would we have a week?

It doesn't make sense,

astronomically,

but because God intended,

as a pattern for us,

who work,

to rest on the 7th day,

that's why we have a week.

And that rest,

also points to God's eternal rest,

which he talks about in Hebrews 4.

That God blessed the 7th day,

and made it holy,

because on it,

God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

In fact,

the Sabbath day,

the 7th day,

is the first thing in the Bible that is called holy.

It's made holy.

It's hallowed.

So there's a God-ordained rhythm of work and rest,

and there's a blessing and consecration promised to us in observing that.

Especially in our urban and career-driven context in Boston and Cambridge,

and especially in the fast-paced culture of New England,

the temptation to gloss over this and neglect it is formidable.

But we neglect it to our detriment.

And in flaunting it,

his vision for order,

his vision for rhythm and rest in our lives,

we invite disorder and dysfunction to our lives.

So in light of these realities,

if we're only asking ourselves,

is it 7 literal 24-hour days,

or 7 ages,

or eons,

how long did the creative process take place?

And we're missing the main literary point,

the theological point of Genesis 1.

I don't think that's the concern here.

And I think it's shown in several ways.

Because if you take the days to be literal 24-hour days,

first we have to make sense of why the sun is not created until the fourth day.

How do you account for days,

the evening and morning,

without the sun on the fourth day?

I don't think that means that God didn't necessarily create it

during that period of time,

but I just don't think that's the concern of the book of Genesis.

Or look ahead to chapter 2,

verses 5 to 7,

which says that there was no plant in the field

because it had not rained,

and there was no man to work the field.

Well, the plants were created on day 3,

man was created on day 6,

so how does this work out?

If man had to be created for the plants to come about.

Or if there were no plants when man was created.

So, what's the point then,

that the author of Genesis is trying to make,

if it's not about the age of the earth?

If you examine the six days of creation more carefully,

you notice a pattern.

The days 1, 2, 3 of creation

correspond to days 4, 5, and 6 of creation, respectively.

On the first day,

God creates light

and separates light from the darkness.

And then on the fourth day,

God creates the luminaries,

the sun, moon, and the stars,

to populate the day and night that he created.

On day 2,

he creates the heavens

by separating the waters from above,

the waters above,

the clouds,

from the waters below,

the seas.

And then on the fifth day,

the corresponding day,

God creates the birds

to populate the heavens above

and fish to populate the oceans,

the waters below.

And on the third day,

God creates dry land and vegetation.

And then on the corresponding sixth day,

God creates land animals,

classified into three categories,

livestock and creeping things

and beasts of the earth,

which refers to domestic animals

and small creeping animals

and wild animals.

And then as the culminating act

of his creation,

on the sixth day,

he creates man

to populate the dry land

and consume the vegetation

he created on the third day for food.

So then the pattern is this.

On days 1, 2, 3,

God forms habitats.

And then days 4, 5, 6,

God forms the inhabitants

to occupy those habitats.

This pattern then witnesses

to God's remedy

of the formless void

that was on earth

in its initial state in verse 2.

The earth was uninhabitable

and uninhabited.

And in the first three days,

he makes it inhabitable

and the next three days,

he makes it inhabited.

He first fills,

I mean forms the earth

and then he fills the earth.

That's the pattern.

That's the theological point.

That he's trying to make.

And God does this

in spectacular,

ordered,

and beautiful way.

And what the book of Genesis

has in mind are,

are not what we have in mind

when we come to the book.

He's thinking about

the other ancient

Near Eastern cosmogonies,

their origins of the universe,

and what they taught

about how the world came to be.

So in Rival Cosmogonies,

they wrote about sea monsters,

dragons,

and gods

that the Canaanite gods

have to conquer

before they can create the world.

So the Babylonian epic,

Enuma Elish,

writes about the god of chaos

and sea,

Tiamat,

wreaking havoc

and reducing other gods

to cowardice and submission.

And then Marduk,

the chief god

of the Babylonians,

comes and takes charge

of the gods,

defeats Tiamat,

and out of his carcass

creates the heavens

and the earth.

In Genesis,

there is no such conflict.

Instead,

we see God alone

in sovereign control.

There's no contest

to his authority.

And God doesn't have to

reuse the carcass

of a god

to create.

He creates out of nothing.

And even the sea creatures

that these engineers

and cultures feared

is just another one

of God's creatures,

it says in Genesis 1.26.

The other engineers

and cosmogonies

also describe

a struggle among the gods

to separate the lower waters

from the higher waters.

You see no such struggle here.

It happens by simple,

divine fight.

He says,

let the waters be separated

and it's done.

And other religions

at the time

worshiped the sun

and moon.

And intentionally,

the author of Genesis

does not even deign

to name them

as sun and moon.

He just says,

greater light,

the big light,

and lesser light,

small light.

That's what he calls them.

These things you worship,

God created them.

They're just creatures.

It's a pointed critique

of the surrounding

nations' idolatry.

In Mesopotamia,

also the seventh interval

of the month

was considered unlucky.

But here,

Genesis teaches,

no,

it's not unlucky.

It's consecrated for God.

And finally,

in the Babylonian tradition,

the creation of man

is an afterthought.

Marduk creates the world

from the carcass of Tiamat

and then the other gods

complain.

Like,

what are you doing?

You know how much work

it's going to be

to keep this up?

Can you imagine

that God's creating something

and then being worried

about being able

to keep it up?

Right?

And then Marduk,

this is his solution.

I will bring together

blood from Tiamat

to form bone.

I will bring into being

a lowly primitive creature

whose name shall be man,

on whom the toil of the gods

will be laid

that they may rest.

The creation of man

is an afterthought.

They're created to do,

to bring food to the gods.

That's their purpose.

How radically different

from the Bible's portrait

of the creation of man.

In Genesis,

man is not an afterthought.

Man is the pinnacle

of all creation.

And that brings us

to our second point.

Man's call to represent

and resemble him.

Verses 26 to 27

of chapter 1.

Read it with me.

Then 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 over every creeping thing

that creeps on the earth.

So God created man

in his own image.

In the image of God,

he created him.

Male and female,

he created them.

So verse 27

is a piece of Hebrew poetry

in this prose section.

It has three lines

with identical meter

and each line

has the word create in it.

And as I mentioned before,

creating is something

that only God does

in the Bible.

And it's used

at strategic junctures

throughout the first chapter

of Genesis

to refer to God's creation.

creation.

First,

in verse 1,

it indicates God

creating something

out of nothing, right?

So there's nothing in existence,

but now there is existence.

And in verse 21,

God creates conscious beings,

animals,

which is separated,

distinguished,

from unconscious creation.

And then finally,

in verse 27,

to distinguish humanity

from the rest of creation,

the word create

is used three times,

once in each line,

to emphasize

and highlight

the special attention

that God gives

to a creation.

And now,

this highlights both,

this emphasis on the fact

that man was created by God

highlights both

the creatureliness of man

and the personhood of man,

right?

First,

the creatureliness

refers to our lowliness

before God.

We're just creatures.

We're not the creator.

We're not the masters

of our own fate.

This is a sobering

and humbling reality

that we need to keep

in our heads.

Psalm 8,

3 to 4,

talks about this beautifully.

When I look at your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars

which you have set in place,

what is man

that you are mindful of him

and the son of man

that you care for him?

We are creatures,

not autonomous,

unaccountable masters

of our own fate.

God is the creator

of the heavens and the earth

and we are one of his creatures.

And how small are we

in light of the universe?

Do we realize,

live with the recognition

of our relative insignificance

before God?

The creatures are meant

to do the creator's work.

Right?

Humans,

when we make things,

produce things,

we don't worship them,

do we?

We don't serve the things

that we make,

do we?

That's why it's considered

the height of ignorance

that in the Bible,

people craft gods

in their own image,

make things,

and then bow down to them

to worship them.

As creatures,

we ought to trust in God

as our gracious

and good creator.

His plan for us is good.

Right?

And remember that pattern

throughout the book,

the first chapter,

God saw that it was good

after each act of creation.

And at the conclusion

of it all,

in verse 31,

God says,

Behold,

he wants to showcase

his work.

Behold,

it was very good.

Right?

The goodness of creation

suggests its quality

and fitness

for the purpose

for which God created it,

but also it reflects

the goodness of God

because the Bible describes

that God,

that goodness is a unique

attribute of God.

That's why Jesus says

in Mark 10, 18,

No one is good

except God alone.

So then the goodness

of creation reflects

the goodness of God,

its creator.

And that's connected

to the fact that God

also blesses

all of his creation

after he creates them.

The word bless

and create

are very similar.

They both have three letters

and the first two letters

are identical.

And when they're written

right next to each other

like this,

it's very,

it pops out at you

and it suggests

that when God creates

something,

he blesses it.

He gives,

endows it with blessing.

He does what is intense

for its good.

And his goodness

is reflected

in the orderliness

of creation.

Look at all

the separations,

right?

God separates life

from darkness,

the water,

in the dry land.

God separates things

and orders things

and this prepares the way

for the rest of the Pentateuch

where after sin

we become disordered,

the world becomes

dysfunctional,

right?

And God gives

painstakingly detailed

instructions throughout

the rest of the Pentateuch

to separate

what is unclean

from what is clean,

what is profane

from what is sacred

in order to preserve

the sense of orderliness

of God's creation,

that there is beauty

and intention

in God's plan for us.

we live with the recognition

that his design

and purposes for us

is good,

for this world

is very good.

I don't know about you,

but occasionally

I have a stroke

of genius

and I try

to jury-rig

something

for a purpose

for which it was not

originally designed.

And for me at least,

the experiment

invariably goes awry

and I either break it

or I can't use it

for anything

afterward.

The original maker,

right,

the product designer

knows best

how the product

ought to be used.

Perhaps you're more

mechanically inclined

than I am,

but I can guarantee you

that no one knows

better than God

the creator himself

of what the design

and purpose

of this universe

and of your life

was supposed to be.

Do you aspire

to fit into that plan

for your life?

Or are you

ever flailing your arms

in resistance,

railing against

God's plan for you,

his design for your life?

When you find teaching

in scripture

that you find

disagreeable

with your spirit,

are you striving

to discover

the goodness of it,

the goodness

of God's creation,

or are you prone

to assuming

that you know better?

We are creatures

that belong to you

and are accountable

to our creator.

And until we submit

ourselves to his plan,

we will never find rest

and true fulfillment.

So this threefold repetition

of the word create

emphasizes our creatureliness,

our relative lowliness

as human beings,

but it also emphasizes

our personhood,

that we are special creatures.

Verse 26,

God says,

let us make men

in our image,

after our likeness.

Right?

Verse 11 said

that the vegetation,

plants,

and trees

were created each

according to its kind.

Verse 21 said

that all the fish

and the birds

were created

according to its kind.

Verse 24 says

the livestock,

all the animals

were created

according to their kinds,

but not so with humanity.

We're not created

according to our own kinds.

We're created

in the image of God

after his likeness.

It is no wonder

that man is the only creature

with whom God

deigns to speak

in this passage.

and to initiate

a relationship with.

Verses 28 to 39,

it says,

God said to them,

he speaks to us

personally,

and he provides

food for us

personally.

We're creatures,

but we're not

merely creatures.

We're persons

created for relationship

with God.

And the words,

image,

and likeness

are related.

When used together,

they build on each other

and convey the unique

call of humanity

on earth.

The word image

refers to representation.

Something that stands

for something.

In particular,

Egyptian and Assyrian

texts written

around the same time

as Genesis

describe kings

as the image

of God.

God.

And they believe

that the idols

or images,

statues of their gods

placed in temples

were indwelled

by the gods

themselves.

And this idea

is behind the creation

man in God's image.

Humanity is endowed

with rationality,

morality,

will,

and aesthetic

sensitivity,

the ability to

communicate

and form fellowship,

and all of this

so that we can

rule over creation

as God's representative.

We're supposed

to represent him.

And we too

were intended

to be eventually

indwelled by the

spirit of God.

But even here,

there's a polemic

against other

ancient Near Eastern

philosophies

and perspectives

because Egyptians

and Assyrians

believed that only kings

were made

in God's image.

Only the rulers.

But this,

here,

that philosophy

pays away for

human domination

of others,

one another.

Exploitation

of one another.

But according to

God's word,

every human being

is created

in the image

of God

and endowed

with the capacity

to represent

God himself.

And the word

man here

is the same word

as the word

Adam,

but because it's

used with the

definite article,

we know that it's

referring to humanity

in general.

And we know

from the context

because it says

later,

so God created

man in his own

image.

In the image

of God,

he created him.

Male and female,

he created them.

Both genders

are created

in the image

of God.

And when he says

man,

it means he's

referring to

humanity

in general.

And the staggering

implications

of this truth,

this idea

was without

precedent

when it was

first written.

And to this

day,

it's without

paralleling

its ability

to promote

human flourishing.

From the least

to the greatest,

from the weakest

to the strongest,

from the least

educated

to the most

educated,

from the youngest

to the oldest,

from white

to black,

everyone

is created

in the image

of God.

So we don't care

if someone is

the most powerful

human being

on earth

or the most

beautiful human being

on earth

or the wealthiest

human being

on earth,

he or she

still has no

claim for

superiority

over any

other man

or woman.

And if you

don't believe

that we were

created in God's

image,

then what is

the foundation

for your

concept of

social justice,

for equality?

If the world

really is just

an accidental

collocation

of atoms,

if there's

no purpose,

if there's

no design

in what God

has done,

then why

not exploit,

abuse,

use other

human beings

for our

advancement?

Why not?

What gives

us the right

to consume,

harvest other

animals for

our consumption?

What gives

us the right

to use animals

to test for

advancement of

human medicine

to care for

humanity?

What gives

us that right?

Nothing does

unless God

created us in

his image and

gave us the

commission to

rule over the

world.

If it's a

dog-eat-dog

world, if

might makes

right, then

you can't have

social justice.

You have no

basis for the

equality and the

community you

seek unless

God created us

in his image.

And in

order to

represent God

well, we

must resemble

him.

So to this

end, it says

God created us

in his likeness.

Now, there's

something amazing

going on in

here.

Look carefully

at verse 26.

God says,

let us make

man in our

image after our

likeness.

But isn't

there only one

God?

Isn't this

before the

creation of the

world?

So who is

God addressing

here?

Some people

think that God

is talking to

the heavenly

court, that

God created

angels before

this time, that

he's now

addressing the

angels.

Let us go

create in

our own

image.

But this

runs into

two insurmountable

problems.

First is

Isaiah 40,

14, which

teaches clearly

that God did

not consult

with anyone

else in his

creation.

It says,

whom did he

consult and

who made

him understand?

No one.

And secondly,

the verb

create throughout

this passage is

used in the

singular, not

in the plural.

So there's

only one

creative agent.

What then

can this

mean?

Notice how

God speaks

everything into

being in this

passage.

God said,

and it was

so.

God's word,

unlike our

words, is

efficacious.

And for

us, you

could say,

let there

be light,

but nothing

will happen

unless you

walk over

and do

something about

it.

For us, we

have phrases

like, walk

the talk,

because it's

possible for

us to walk

one way and

talk another.

But for God,

this is impossible

because every

word that

proceeds from

his mouth is

efficacious,

it's effective,

it's powerful.

What he speaks

comes into

being.

So he

says, let

there be

light, and

there is

light.

And you

know why

that's the

case?

It's because

God's word

is a person.

It's the

word of

God, Jesus

Christ, that

John 1 talks

about.

He says, the

word was

with God, and

the word was

God.

And he

was in the

beginning with

God.

All things

were made

through him,

and without

him was not

anything that

was made.

And that's

true.

If you look

at Genesis

1, there's

nothing that

is made

without God's

word, his

speaking.

So that's

the second

person of

the Trinity,

the Son

of God.

And also

recall how

in verse 2,

the Spirit

of God is

hovering over

the face of

the waters.

The Spirit

also means

breath, the

breath of

God, the

breath that

carries the

word of

God.

And the

word hover

is avian

language.

It's a

language that

is used to

describe a

bird hovering

in protection

over the

eggs that

are about

to hatch.

That kind

of hovering

presence,

getting ready

for birth,

new birth.

And this

word is

used only

one other

time in

the whole

Bible, and

it's used

at the

end of the

Pentateuch.

So it's

used here at

the beginning

of the

Pentateuch, and

at the end

of the

Pentateuch, in

Deuteronomy

32, 10

to 11,

where after

delivering Israel

from Egypt,

it says of

God here,

that he

found him

in a desert

land, and

in the

howling waste

of the

wilderness.

Again, the

waste,

wilderness, that

sounds similar

to the

creation

account.

And then he

encircled him,

he cared for

him, he

kept him as

the apple of

his eye, like

an eagle that

stirs up its

nest, that

flutters or

hovers over

its young,

spreading out

its wings,

catching them,

bearing them on

its pinions.

So the

Spirit of God

is the

manifestation of

the presence of

God that

accompanies his

people.

He was there in

creation, and

he's there again

in redemption.

The triune

God works

together in

all ways to

bring about

this world, and

to bring about

a new creation

as well.

So the

plurality that

we find in

let us make

man our

image, I

think is

best seen as

a reference to

the Trinity,

which is kind

of a veiled

reference at

this time, but

becomes with

the fuller

sense that we

are able to

understand it when

Jesus comes to

reveal the

Trinity to

us.

Three God,

three persons in

one God,

three persons in

one God,

Trinity.

Trinity.

And there

is in us and

in all the

world a

profound,

unshakable

yearning to

be, to

fit into this

creation, to

represent him

well, to

resemble him, to

be like him.

And renowned

French philosopher

and Jewish

Christian Simone

Vey writes

about this

unfulfilled

longing with

regard to

creation.

She says,

at the present

time, the

beauty of the

world is almost

the only way by

which we can

allow God to

penetrate us.

A sense of

beauty, although

mutilated, is

present in all

the preoccupations

of secular

life.

The soul's

natural inclination

to love beauty

is a trap God

most frequently

uses in order

to win it.

And the beauty

of the world is

the cooperation

of divine

wisdom in

creation.

The beauty

of the world

is Christ's

tender smile

for us,

coming through

the matter.

He is really

present in the

universal beauty.

The love we

feel for the

splendor of the

heavens, the

plains, the

sea, and the

mountains, for

the silence of

nature which is

born in upon us

its thousands of

tiny sounds, for

the breath of the

wind or the

warmth of the

sun, this love

of which every

human being has

at least an

inkling, is an

incomplete, painful

love, because the

beauty of the

world makes us

yearn for some

universal beauty

that does not

seem to respond

to us.

we see the

beauty and

order in the

world and long

to be a part

of it, to

become one

with it.

This is the

basis for all

the misguided

practices of the

new age movement,

but we are

incapable of it,

because something

about us and our

relationship with

creation and the

rest of the

world is

fundamentally

misplaced,

because our

relationship with

God has become

disoriented.

Yet there's hope

for us.

C.S. Lewis hints

at this hope in his

essay, Weight of

Glory.

At present, we are

on the outside of

the world, the

wrong side of the

door.

We discern the

freshness and purity

of the morning, but

they do not make us

fresh and pure.

We cannot mingle with

the splendors we see,

but all the leaves of

the New Testament are

rustling with the

rumor that it will

not always be so.

Someday, God

willing, we shall

get in.

There's another

place in the Bible

that begins with the

famous word, in the

beginning.

It's John 1.

In the beginning was

the Word, and the

Word was with God, and

the Word was God.

He was in the

beginning with God.

All things were made

through him, and

without him was not

anything made that was

made.

In him was life, and

the life was the

light of man.

The light shines in

the darkness, and the

darkness has not

overcome it.

What is God's plan

to bring us back into

that relationship with

him?

It's through Jesus,

his Word.

Genesis 2, at the

end of it, it says,

the heavens and the

earth were finished,

and all the rest of

them, and on the

seventh day, God

finished his work that

he had done, and he

rested.

You know another

place in the Bible

where God says it is

finished?

finished.

The end of the

Gospel of John, chapter

John 19:30

19, verse 30, where

Jesus is dying on the

cross as the atoning

sacrifice for our sins

to satisfy the Father's

wrath, and to make a way

for us to once again fit

into God's plan, to be

redeemed again, and to be

a part of that new

creation.

And Jesus says it is

finished.

It's finished.

And it's only through

him, by believing that

Jesus died and rose

again for our salvation,

to lead us to victory

from sin and death, that

we can be reconciled to

our creator once again.

We can fit into his

creation plan once again.

We can partake in the

beauty, the harmony, and

the order of the

creation once again.

I pray God draws you all

to that beautiful,

beautiful harmony.

Let's pray together.

God, that is our prayer

this morning.

Lord, we don't want to be

just convinced

rationally, logically,

of your reality, and

that you are the

creator.

That is a woefully

inadequate way for us to

know you.

And to love you.

But we ask, not just

cognitively, but that you

would capture our

imaginations.

That you capture our

loves.

That you would draw us

irresistibly with your

beauty, with your love,

so that we can be

reconciled and be agents,

your ambassadors, your

representatives here on

earth, to bring our

neighbors, the rest of the

world, back into the

world, back into that

relationship that you

intended us for.

Help us now.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.