Genesis: Creation Week, Part Two

 Sermon: FCC Afton March 19, 2023 Genesis: The Creation Week, Part 2 Scripture: Genesis 1:20-2:3 We continue this morning in our survey of the Book of Genesis, seeking to identify what the Bible says about our beginnings and to securely understand the roots of what we believe as Followers of Christ. Our understanding of Creation reveals how we view and understand everything else within Scripture and because we are each called to be a minister of the varied grace of God and are commissioned to communicate our faith to others, we must be equipped with a foundational knowledge of the truth of who our God is, what He has done, and how what He has done shows us how much He loves us and His purpose for our lives. Because if we cannot trust what God has to say about the beginnings of man and the universe, then how can we trust anything He says about His plans for humanity or His desire for us to come to salvation and right relationship with Him? We must have a good understanding of what God did to be able to understand who He is and what He continues doing now. We ended last week after surveying the first four days of Creation. We examined God's actions in moving from an empty sphere of water in the midst of the emptiness of the universe to a life-bearing planet with its intact atmosphere, land formations, and abundant plant life, as well as a universe now full of stars and planets all traveling across the expanse of space it the pathways of the heavens. In the span of four days, we watched as nothing- no universe, no time, no dimensional bounds, no stars, no earth- became everything, became a universe bound by time and space, a universe now full of shining stars and galaxies, with Sol in the Milky Way at its center, and the earth spinning perfectly on its axis and revolving perfectly in its orbit around the sun. I want to park it here for a moment before we begin to dig into Days 5-7 and the lessons that God has to teach us and examine the manner of perfection with which God created the earth. We know that God created everything and it was good, but we also need to examine how God created perfection for the earth in the chaos that would come after sin. God placed the earth perfectly within the span of the heavens in order to accomplish His purposes for it and His purpose for each of us who would live on it. Pray here. Creation scientists call the earth the Goldilocks planet because it contains everything necessary for life to exist and because it sits in the Goldilocks Zone, the only zone within space where it is possible for life to be sustained- and so far, science is discovering that our planet is the only one to be found that meets both of those criteria. Let's examine what this looks like. In 2009, NASA launched the Kepler Telescope, a satellite, much like the Hubble Space Telescope, designed to examine and monitor the roughly 145,000 observable stars that are found within the Milky Way Galaxy, looking for any evidence of observable planets. These researchers estimate that there are as many as 100 billion planets within the Milky Way Galaxy- where they got that number, I don't know; I didn't dig that deep- but the stat that I want to examine is the number of planets that have been identified as having anything close to the conditions for life to exist and for life to be sustained. Only a handful have been identified that might possibly contain some of the conditions necessary to be considered a Goldilocks planet or to exist within a Goldilocks Zone. Only a handful out of 100 billion have anything remotely close to the perfection with which God crafted our home. We were indeed created by God with a purpose and placed perfectly into what He designed to be a paradise, a perfect place for intimate relationship with Him. So, what is all the Goldilocks stuff? What does that mean? Well, you all know the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears- Goldilocks enters the bears' home and helps herself to their breakfast- rejecting the porridge that was too hot and the porridge that was too cold, choosing instead the porridge that was just right; and then she lays down for a nap, again rejecting the beds that were too hard and too soft, and then choosing the bed that was just right. According to Astrobiology, a Goldilocks zone in reference to planets is the zone around a star that makes life habitable because it is not too hot or cold for liquid water to be present on the planet's surface. Examine our solar system: Venus and Mercury are too close to the Sun and are too hot for liquid water; Mars, on the other hand, is too far from the Sun- what water we have found on Mars is frozen or deep under the surface of the planet. Earth, however, is right in the middle of Sol's habitable zone- the earth is not too hot and not too cold; it is just right for liquid water to exist abundantly. When God made the Sun and placed it within the universe, He placed it just far enough away that the Sun's light and warmth would hit the earth just right; God positioned the sun perfectly for the earth to sustain His beloved creation. But that's not all. A planet can exist in a Goldilocks Zone and still not be able to sustain life, because the planet itself must meet the necessary conditions in order for life to exist. -A planet must be just the right size, have the necessary mass, in order to maintain the correct kind of atmosphere to make life viable. Consider two other planetary bodies in our galaxy: our moon- it is too small and does not have the gravity necessary to maintain an atmosphere; Jupiter, on the other hand, is much too massive, leading to its atmosphere being made up of poisonous gases rather than hydrogen and oxygen. The earth's mass is just the right mass to have a healthy, oxygen-rich atmosphere. -But even being the right distance from a star and having the right mass is not enough for a planet to be able to support life. The planet must contain the necessary elements. Other planets have been found to be in Goldilocks Zones but lack the necessary elements to make them life-sustaining. A planet must have a strong iron core in order to maintain a gravitational pull, thereby allowing it to maintain its atmosphere. The planet must also contain the correct amounts of calcium, sodium, nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, all elements necessary for life, for life to exist on that planet. There are a couple of other requirements for a planet to be a Goldilocks planet: the planet must have a locked orbit because an unstable orbit leads to wildly varying surface temperatures; the planet must orbit a star that has a consistent brightness and radiation level; and the planet itself must have a consistent rate of rotation. There have been planets found it Goldilocks Zones that could be Goldilocks planets but they do not meet these other characteristics, so life is not sustainable on these planets. On top of these things, God has given the earth two other things that make it unique and help to sustain life at the prosperous level that we have. This is no surprise since we know that creation didn't happen by accident but by our God's purposeful shaping and setting things in place around the earth on Day Four of Creation. The first outside force that benefits life on the earth is our moon. We know that the moon was specifically designed for the earth in order to provide light and to dominate the night. But the moon's presence within the earth's gravitational field helps to regulate the earth's tilt. The moon's gravitational pushback against the earth is necessary to keep the earth tilted perfectly at 23.4o, which causes our annual cycle of seasons. The moon's gravitational pull against the earth also helps regulate the oceans' tides, which assists in the circulation and production of oxygen and helps regulate temperature and climate patterns. The second outside force that benefits life on earth is the planet Jupiter. Jupiter's huge mass and strong gravitational pull serves as a shield to protect the earth from comets and asteroids. God created this planet and placed it in perfection, with both the present perfection of Creation and the chaos of a fallen universe in mind. No other planet in our galaxy can say the same. We are indeed blessed to live on this perfectly created planet; it exists in the perfect zone for life, has all the perfect elements necessary for life, has a perfect orbit and rotation, orbits the perfect kind of star, and is perfectly protected in its location within the Solar System. It is literally the perfect planet, in the perfect location, and gives us the perfect opportunity for relationship with our Creator. Day Five: "Then God said, 'Let the water swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.' So, God created the large sea creatures and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kind. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So, God blessed them: 'Be fruitful; multiply, and fill the waters of the seas, and let the birds multiply in the earth.' Evening came and then morning: the fifth day." (Genesis 1:20-23) Day five dawns with the introduction of living creatures for the first time. Just as God spoke and the universe and earth were formed, and then the stars and planets of the heavens were hung in their places, now we watch as God speaks and the perfect design of His creation is established. God starts by creating the creatures of the sea and birds to fill the expanse of the sky. The text gives us three categories that the creatures of the sea are divided into: the large sea creatures, the living creatures that move, and the creatures that swarm. This is more than simply fish. Fish are the third group, creatures that swarm; also in this category would be things like plankton, shrimps, jellyfish, mollusks, and sea-worms. The second category is every living thing that moves and yet is not a large sea creature. This would include things like sharks (a fish, that doesn't swarm like a school of fish), seals, smaller whales, dolphins, crabs, lobsters, octopuses, squids, sea turtles- any smaller creature that lives and moves in the ocean, yet is not part of a school or swarm. The first category is the large sea creatures. This naturally includes the larger whales and things like giant squids, but we must also examine this not simply from our perspective 6,000 years removed, but what might also have existed at creation. This would also include the sea-based dinosaurs/ dragons, like what the Bible tells us about in Job 41 when God describes Leviathan. Read Job 41:10-32 Sounds like a very apt description of a dinosaur or a dragon. The oceans were full of all of these creatures and still, everything is perfect and peaceful. God goes on to make the winged birds that would fill the expanse of the sky. This is not broken into categories; the only things flying at this point are the birds. But we could definitely imagine this also including the feathered, flying larger birds, which we might also call dinosaurs- scientists are now concluding that what they previously imagined as great flying lizards were actually birds. God sees that these creations are good and so he blesses them and gives them the Creation Mandate: Be fruitful and multiply. What is interesting about the Creation Mandate at this point is that there is not yet any death. This is before the Fall, before the Curse, before death; things are still perfect and yet we see the purpose with which God created living things, a purpose that every living thing instinctively understands to this day: be fruitful in reproducing. Day Six: "Then God said, 'Let the earth produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that crawl, and the wildlife of the earth according to their kinds.' And it was so. God made the wildlife of the earth according to their kind, the livestock according to their kind, and creatures that crawl on the ground according to their kind, and God saw that it was good. Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.' So God created man in His own image; He created Him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.' God also said, 'Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant on the surface of the entire earth and every tree whose fruit contains seed. This food will be for you, for all the wildlife of the earth, for every kind of bird of the sky, and for every creature that crawls on the earth- everything having the breath of life in it, I have given every green plant for food.' And it was so. God saw all that He has made, and it was very good. Evening came and then morning: the sixth day." (Genesis 1:24-31) Day six follows a very similar pattern as Day Five. God speaks and created the animals of the earth in three categories: wildlife, livestock, and creatures that crawl. Each animal is created according to its kind and reproduces after its own kind. The breakdown is pretty straightforward. Livestock is any animal that is able to be domesticated: cows, horses, oxen, llamas, water buffalo, goats, etc. This would also include dogs and small cats; maybe could also include elephants. Wildlife would include any animal that lives in the wild and is not easily domesticated: deer, antelope, all the big cats, whether in the jungle like panthers and jaguars or the savannah, like lions, tigers, and cheetahs, bears; also any animal that we would readily hunt for food. Animals that crawl is the third category. Older translations use the word creep. This is a very broad category. Typically, this has long included insects, snakes and serpents, lizards, and alligators, but this would also include the larger lizards that we would call dinosaurs or dragons. We see this in Job 40, when God describes the Behemoth (or something like a Sauropod or a Brontosaurus). One thing to note at this point: everything created is vegetarian at this point. In fact, as there are no processed food sources, everything is vegan, as well. The plants and fruits that God created on Day Three are provided as food for every living creature. There is no death until the Fall of Man; this includes animal deaths. And then comes God's crowning achievement, the creation not made according to their kinds but rather crafted according to the very image of God. God has a conversation, discussing plans for mankind; the three persons of the Trinity discussing me and you. God has been planning this, we know according to Ephesians 1:4, since before the foundations of the world were ever laid. God has been considering what you and I should be like since before the creation process ever began. And God decides the best form in which to create His beloved is to imprint us with His image and likeness- and He does it by expressing it in both male and female versions. Man is placed in authority over the earth and formed in God's image as His likeness- everything about man is crafted as a reflection of our Creator-God. Not just how we look, but every aspect of our beings. Our hearts, the way we think, the way we love, our personalities, our courage, our hope, our desire for friendship and relationship- everything is crafted after that aspect of His own being. In the strictly scientific sense, mankind is part of the living animal kingdom. We are indeed mammals, according to how we have decided mammals should be classified, such as giving birth to live offspring, producing milk to feed babies, and having hair. But we are so much more than the lesser animals that God gave us dominion over. We are like God, created in His image. No other part of creation was created in this way. We are reminded in John 4:24 that 'God is spirit.' So, unlike the animals, you have an eternal, immortal spirit. You can be filled with God's Holy Spirit. And you can pray to God directly. We are told in 1 John 4:8 that 'God is love,' so we are crafted to love and worship Him, love other people, and know and understand His love for us. We are reminded in Psalm 34, 1 Peter 2, and Matthew 5 that God is good, holy, and perfect. He has given us a conscience that tells us what is right and wrong and commands us to be holy and perfect, as well. We are different in other ways, as well. We can talk, we can make conscious decisions and choices, where animals act on instinct, and we can build and develop complex things and complex ideas and express the creativity that God has instilled in us. God gives us the Creation Mandate, as well, and with it His blessing and command. 'Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth. But then also subdue the earth and rule over it.' He gives us authority and responsibility over every other aspect of creation. Creation culminates in God's beloved creation and with it, we see the care and thought that He put into putting us on this earth. He desires love and relationship with us- made us in His image, placed us in authority over all creation, and gave us the perfection of this world to show us how much He wants us to love Him in return. Day Seven: "So, the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed. By the seventh day, God completed all His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation." (Genesis 2:1-3) Two things stand out about this last section of Scripture. The first is that Scripture says that everything about creation was completed, that God had completed His work. The lie of Theistic Evolution would try to tell you that God put things in motion and then just let them run wild, wherever they pleased, over millions and millions of years, but this states the opposite. God was finished- creation was complete! That means everything that we see today came from things that God put on the earth 6,000 years ago. Do we see new species as animals of the same kind cross-breed? Of course. It's why we can have a mule or a new breed of dog. It's also why there were things created that we no longer see today as species go extinct. But there is never any evidence of one kind of animal becoming another. That's nonsense. The second part of Day Seven is that God establishes a day of rest and blesses it, giving us the freedom and opportunity to follow His example to rest. God creates the Sabbath, not to force us to obey a strict set of rules about honoring it, but to bless us with a day of rest in His example. Closing Prayer: