THE BEGINNING GOD Genesis 1:1-5
First, We want to note that God was in the beginning.
The Bible begins with God and so we must begin with him always. Back of all, above all, before all is the God of Genesis. First in our thoughts; first in rank and station and power is the God of the Bible. He is the Almighty One, the self-existent One, the One who gives being to everything else, all things existing by him and through him and for him, the only one worthy to receive glory and power and honor. He has created all things and for his honor and delight they were created. Every soul is God’s and exists by his pleasure. The only thinkable relation between us is one of sovereign lordship on his part and total submission on ours. We owe God every honor that there is in our power to give him. We shall spend our moments and our days freely exalting this living God.
We will give him his proper place over us. “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” The sentence tells us four things
1. It was in the beginning that God created everything.
When everything else began God was already there. Time and space and dimensions and matter all have a beginning, but God did have a beginning. There is nothing that exists that did not have a beginning; all things can be traced back to Genesis chapter one and verse one. This is the final explanation of the beginning of everything. The Creator, however, is different from every other kind of being. He never began. We can compare him to nothing at all. We are told nothing about the origin of our God. The living God is without beginning or end of days; he is from eternity to eternity. He himself had no cause; he has no birthday, and he has no external life-support system; he is self-sufficient. He is the eternal self-existent one, before everything else there was God alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This was the God who in the beginning acted and made everything.
"My Name is I Am" (By Helen Mallicoat) I was regretting the past and fearing the future suddenly my Lord was speaking: "My name is I Am." He paused. I waited. He continued, "When you live in the past with its mistakes and regrets, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WAS. "When you live in the future, with its problems and fears, it is hard. I am not there. My name is not I WILL BE. When you live in this moment, it is not hard. I am here. My name is I!
2, God is the only One responsible for creation.
God created it. Both the plan and the accomplishment of the universe was his. There was nothing and nobody else making any suggestions to him, let alone helping him. There was God alone purposing, designing and the human race within God’s creation began. God did it because he chose to do it God created the heavens and the earth. Whenever this word ‘created’ is found in the Bible then you will notice three remarkable features.
a. Created is used only of producing something new. That is why it is used so sparingly, even in the story of creation. It occurs only three times in referring to the primary act of creation, the creation of conscious life, and the creation of man. He creates only sparely, and with the creation of man his creativity ceases.
b. God himself is the one creating; he is always the subject preceding the verb ‘create’, in every single case. This is an unspeakable attribute of God. The reason for that is that God only can create out of nothing. Out of nothing comes nothing, but when God acts in the beginning, addressing this nothingness, the heavens and the earth are born. Someone has said that ‘God stepped from behind the curtain of nowhere, and stood on the platform of nothing, and spoke a universe into existence.”
c. The word ‘create’ is never used with any suggestion to the materials used. We are never told that God created with such and such materials. It is as if the materials did not exist. God was completely unrestrained in creating with total freedom and giving perfect expression to the idea in his own mind.
WHAT DO YOU HEAR?
A Native American and his friend were in downtown New York City, walking near Times Square in Manhattan. It was during the noon lunch hour and the streets were filled with people. Cars were honking their horns, taxicabs were squealing around corners, sirens were wailing, and the sounds of the city were almost deafening. Suddenly, the Native American said, "I hear a cricket." His friend said, "What? You must be crazy. You couldn't possibly hear a cricket in all of this noise!" "No, I'm sure of it," the Native American said, "I heard a cricket." "That's crazy," said the friend. The Native American listened carefully for a moment, and then walked across the street to a big cement planter where some shrubs were growing. He looked into the bushes, beneath the branches, and sure enough, he located a small cricket. His friend was utterly amazed. "That's incredible," said his friend. "You must have super-human ears!" "No," said the Native American. "My ears are no different from yours. It all depends on what you're listening for." "But that can't be!" said the friend. "I could never hear a cricket in this noise." "Yes, it's true," came the reply. "It depends on what is really important to you. Here, let me show you." He reached into his pocket, pulled out a few coins, and discreetly dropped them on the sidewalk. And then, with the noise of the crowded street still blaring in their ears, they noticed every head within twenty feet turn and look to see if the money that tinkled on the pavement was theirs. "See what I mean?" asked the Native American. "It all depends on what's important to you."
What's important to you? What do you listen for? Are there times that you fail to listen to God or see what God is doing in your life because you are focused on other things that are more important to you?
3. Every single atom in the cosmos was created by God.
There was nothing at all before Genesis chapter one verse one except God. We affirm that in the beginning there was nothing whatsoever save for the living God. We can’t imagine nothingness, the absence of a millionth of a proton. A proton is a tiny part of an atom. A proton is so small that in the dot on top of the letter ‘i’ on your hymnbook could be gathered something like five hundred thousand million protons just in that dot. The Bible says that in the beginning there was nothing whatsoever. There was God alone, and everything that man has discovered, all that is known, and all that is yet unknown, was made by acts of the living, speaking God. No speck is eternal; no speck was there in the beginning, and every speck there is was made by God. The Bible has no word for ‘universe’ or ‘cosmos’ it simply talks of, “the heavens and the earth” and that embraces all there is everywhere. Outer space as well as all that’s in this world, everything in heaven itself and everything on, under and above the earth was created by God.
4. This world was the special focus of God’s creation.
That is what these opening words are emphasizing, that in the beginning God created the heavens and especially the earth. That is the meaning of the opening words of the Bible. We have all been made aware that our earth, considered in terms of size, is an average sized planet encircling the sun. The earth is dwarfed by the size of four of the other planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus discovered in 1781 and Neptune discovered in 1841, which are all gas giants. Neptune is in fact 318 times bigger than planet earth, and yet it is not Neptune but the earth that is the focus of God’s attention. Then consider our sun which is a part of great galaxy of similar suns, and this galaxy is called, of course, the Milky Way. Nobody knows how many stars or suns there are in the Milky Way; estimates range from sixty billion to perhaps four hundred billion stars in the Milky Way. The Hubble telescope has so far detected 80 billion other galaxies in the universe. Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and that especially he created the earth. God’s interest was focused on our world and its inhabitants, the men and women whom he made in his own image. The rest of Genesis chapter one and the remainder of the Bible concentrates on this unique planet of ours, the only living people in the whole universe, as far as we know, and Scripture looks at the rest of the cosmos as the back cloth to ourselves who inhabit a divinely created world which has been planned, and tested, and spoken to and visited by God’s angels and by God the Son. Mankind has a Maker. God designed the universe with the world at its heart. He especially made the earth amongst all the billions of stars in the cosmos. Humans are very special, made in his image. Our maker is not silent but speaks to us by his servants and his Son.
This is the transcript of a radio conversation of a US naval ship with Canadian authorities off the coast of Newfoundland in October, 1995 Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations.
Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the North to avoid a collision. Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision. Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again, divert YOUR course. Canadians: No I say again, you divert YOUR course. Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES NORTH, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH, OR COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP! Canadians: This is a lighthouse it’s your call.
Second, We see that GOD CHANGED CHAOS INTO COSMOS.
There are five stages in this great change.
1. “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep”. Immediately God looks away from the heavens and describes for us the raw state of the newly created earth. Moses, the scribe of God, tells us that the earth was formless and empty. ” No birds, nor animals, nor human beings could live on the planet while it remained in that state. There was no one but God alone who could change the earth, and so God set to and began to work on this formless, watery mass of unorganized material. God’s first stage in creating the earth was to make a scene of disorder in which he was going to display his mastery. He’s now about to turn this chaos into a cosmos. The remainder of the chapter describes how these three defects, darkness, formlessness and emptiness were eliminated. So what is the next step in the transformation?
2. The Holy Spirit of God comes forth from God; “and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Though the word for ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’ are the same in Hebrew, in every case where this phrase is found in the Bible it refers to God’s Spirit. This is the first mention of the Spirit in the Bible and he is there above the chaos but freely locked into it. Upon this darkness and in these depths God works. The details of everything that follows in Genesis one is this presence and work of this Spirit of God.
3. We are told, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.” God addresses what is formless and empty chaos. He speaks, and there is immediate change. He commands; all things obey him! He says “Let there be light!” and there was light from one end of the universe to the other. On ten occasions in this chapter we are told that God spoke. Here is the first occasion when God imposed his will upon the dark void. Spontaneously and immediately this ‘light’ was formed. God had said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. In John it says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in darkness, but the darkness has not understood it”.
4. We are told, “And God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness”. This word ‘and’ comes into this verse twice; in other words we are seeing order. God studied what he had done and he judged it, “Good!” On seven occasions we are going to meet this word good in this chapter and ending with “Very good!” God is expressing his authority over the world he has made. It is going to be exactly as he designed it.
5. Finally we are told, “God called the light ‘day, and the darkness he called ‘night.’ And there was evening, and there was morning the first day”. Long before there were any men and women God gave names to the light and darkness. It is a mark of his ownership and authority. It may well be that the fifth verse encourages us to understand that God actually called to the light “Day!” and to the darkness he called “Night!” This is the day that the Lord has made. He is the Lord of this day. Day One began with the entrance of light and it ends with the departure of darkness. Day Two begins with the sunrise.
Have you ever told a white lie? You are going to love this, especially all of the ladies who bake for church events: Alice Grayson was to bake a cake for the Baptist Church Ladies’ Group in Tuscaloosa, but forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets, found an angel food cake mix & quickly made it while drying her hair, dressing, and helping her son pack up for Scout camp. When she took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured and she exclaimed, "Oh dear, there is not time to bake another cake!" This cake was important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church, and in her new community of friends. So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake. She found it in the bathroom - a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect. And, before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the moment it opened at 9:30 and to buy the cake and bring it home. When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold. Amanda grabbed her cell phone & called her mom. Alice was horrified - she was beside herself! Everyone would know! What would they think? She would be ostracized, talked about, ridiculed! All night, Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing fingers at her and talking about her behind her back. The next day, Alice promised herself she would try not to think about the cake and would attend the fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a fellow church member and try to have a good time. She did not really want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a single parent and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa, but having already RSVP’d, she couldn't think of a believable excuse to stay home. The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust old south and to Alice’s horror, the cake in question was presented for dessert! Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake! She started out of her chair to tell the hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, "What a beautiful cake!" Alice, still stunned, sat back in her chair when she heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, "Thank you, I baked it myself…" Alice smiled and thought to herself, "God is good.”
Third, We need to learn what GOD TEACHES about OUR RESPONSE TO THE CREATION.
Since God designed and made it all you would expect to see evidences of his wise handiwork everywhere, and we do. Consider the way God fixed the exact distance of the earth from the sun; it is just the distance it must be to support life. If the earth were further from the sun, the planet would be too cool for a stable water cycle. If the earth were closer to the sun, the planet would be too hot for a stable water cycle. We are alive today because of that. The air we are breathing at this moment has the correct mixture of gases: 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, .93% Argon, .035% carbon dioxide and .035% other gases. If the atmosphere had 25% oxygen or more, spontaneous fires would break out because oxygen encourages flammability. If the atmosphere had 15% oxygen or less, we would suffocate. If the atmosphere had more carbon dioxide, the earth would become warmer. If the atmosphere had less carbon dioxide, plants would starve. Or again consider the tilt of earth's axis (23.5 degrees) which gives us our moderate seasons. If the tilt was greater for example, Uranus has a 98 degree tilt such a tilt on earth would cause periodic continental flooding and long periods of darkness. If the earth’s tilt were less for example, the planet Venus has no tilt then that lack of tilt would cause areas to grow much hotter and the ice caps to expand. Again the proximity of moon is exactly where it should be. If it were a fifth of the distance away, tides would completely submerge continents twice a day. If there were no moon, the earth would wobble, as the planet Mars wobbles. The moon stabilizes the earth. The rate of the earth’s rotation is exactly right. If it were a tenth of the present rate, plant life would burn during the day and freeze at night. If it were faster, wind velocities would rise to disastrous levels. For example, the planet Jupiter has a 10-hour rotation period and thousand mph winds. The water vapor level in the atmosphere is exactly as it has to be. If the water vapor level was greater, a runaway greenhouse effect would develop. If water vapor level were less, rainfall would be too meager for advanced life on the land. The color of the sun is correct. If the sun was redder, the photosynthetic response would be insufficient. If the sun was bluer, the photosynthetic response would be insufficient. The force of gravity is exactly right. If this constant force were just a bit stronger or weaker, we wouldn’t have life as we know it. This is because the existence of stars depends on the gravitational constant, and without stars, there would obviously be no sun, no light, and no heat. The speed of light is 186,000 miles per second. If this speed were a little more or less, then the stars would be either too bright or too dim, and life as we know it would be greatly altered. Here is the planning of a personal God and his wonderful accomplishment.
What are the chances of one planet having these parameters which are all necessary for life-support (and there are hundreds more) just by chance? The odds are microscopic and would likened to an explosion in a junk yard causing the creation of a Boeing 707. A great Designer has set the earth in its place in preparation for the creation of man. This is a God who is incredibly wise and intelligent and wonderfully kind as well.
Because of this we are to enjoy his creation.
God made it not only for his own good pleasure, and his praise, but he made it for his people. God made all of this for us in a very real sense of the word. He gave it to us and he has told us to have dominion over the world and enjoy it. Now, you know what the devil wants to do. The enemy of our souls plans to get you thinking negatively about God. Satan wants to get you thinking that God is not a good God. The mighty Creator of Genesis 1 is good. God is kind and a loving God. God made the world for his glory and also for your good. For his praise, but for his people’s delight.
May we use the just three verses to help us refuse to accept the devil’s attacks on the beautiful character of God?
PS 37:4; “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Isn’t that amazing? The desires of your heart. Not what you need he will provide for you; we know that God fulfills our needs every day, but to those whose delight is to know and love and serve the living God the Lord says he will give us our heart’s desire. How loving and wonderful a God he is.
PS 84:11. “No good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.” Do you hear that? No good thing whatsoever. If it will make you more like Jesus Christ, more useful as a Christian, wholesome, loving, contented and joyful then God says ask him for such favor and honor. He bestows it; help yourself; “I love you, I made it for you,” God says. We have all the authority of God to assure us that today that he has blessed us through our lives with all the things we love most. God wants for you what you would want for yourself if ask for it. God is such a good God. God says, “Help yourself to being blessed.” No good thing will he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. He is talking about a person who wants to honor God in their lives.
1 TM. 6:17 Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Why did he make so vast and extraordinary a universe? For our enjoyment, the New Testament says. God has made you to enjoy this winter day.
There is a story about a pencil maker's advice to his new little pencil that he just made. Imagine you and I being the pencil maker and God being the pencil maker. The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. There are 4 things you need to know, he told the pencil, before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be. ONE: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand. TWO: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you'll need it to become a better pencil. THREE: The most important part of you will always be what's inside. AND FOUR: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write. The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart. Now replacing the place of the pencil with you; always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be. ONE: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God's hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess. TWO: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems, but you'll need it to become a stronger person. THREE: The most important part of you will always be what's on the inside. AND FOUR: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties. By understanding and remembering, let us proceed with our life on this earth having a meaningful purpose in our heart. We are just like the pencil, who can make a difference in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. Don't ever underestimate what you have the power to do!
When God made the world, He said, “It is good.” If it is good for God then it can satisfy our conscience, and the same God made our Sunday lunch of roast lamb, and that is the reason why we pray and thank him for the meal before we eat it. God is such a generous God. He's a wonderful God. He is a glorious God. What a privilege to know him.
