Genesis 1:1-25

MPS: Our good God prepares a place for us to be with him

Intro: How to read Genesis

1. Problems approaching Genesis: Its a 3500 year old book that is also part of a collection of five books called the Pentateuch. We have problems reading genesis as modern readers, especially the older chapters. As the narrative continues, it gets easier and easier for modern readers to swallow

1) one reason for this is the modern tension we feel is because of the ever rising debate between Religion vs. Science. The debate centers around the origin of humans and the world.

This is most apparent in regards to the Creation narratives in Genesis 1 and 2. for example:

a. age of the Earth seems to be a contentious issue that puts science and the bible at odds.

-Young Earth,

God made everything out of nothing over 7 days literal days of creation. Maybe just 14,000 years old. Young Earthers typically use the geneologies found elsewhere in genesis to calculate the age of the Earth by calculating how much time between Adam and Abraham. This group isn’t super popular amongst scientists.

-Progressive creationists.

Old Earth, Genesis is more allegorical or metaphorical than literal. Tend to presuppose science as fact and then hold the bible under that lens, trying to understand what it is saying.

Science tells us a lot of things that make genesis 1 hard for us to believe at face value.

The problem with both of these camps is they expect an answer from Genesis for a question that neither the author, nor the audience was asking:

Genesis was composed by Moses why the Israelites wandered the dessert. No jewish person coming out of 400 years of slavery in Egypt was asking, how old is the Earth? what was the scientific process for creating life? How long have humans been around for?

- The audience were the wandering Jews, fresh out of slavery and preparing to enter the land. What questions were they asking?

-They are surrounded by nations who boast of the god of the Sun (Ra), The god of the moon (Osiris) or the god of the harvest. They are wandering in the dessert headed for the land of Canaan, who’s people worship Molech, who they say is the supreme god in their tradition. They believe the seas were made by Molech cutting a lesser God in half.

-Their Questions:

Who are we?

Who is our God and how does he compare to the rest?

What does our future hold?

2. The genesis account stands in contrast to every other origin story out there, and it always has.

-In contrast to the Pagan gods of the day, Genesis 1 shows who God really is- All powerful, eternal, good. The sun and moon are not all powerful, they are creations of the God of Israel. The sea is not a god, it is a servant of the God of creation.

-The people are not on their own, but blessed and destined to live in this land with their good and mighty God.

-How does Genesis 1 stand in opposition to the popular origin stories of our day?

-Atheism says we are all alone, a lucky and yet cursed species stuck on a rock in the midst of never ending emptiness and death beyond.

-It says we come from monkeys. We are just an accident, without real meaning, real significance, real purpose. Just alone.

-Nobody is in control of the world, nobody is caring, nobody is watching.

-Genesis 1 stands in opposition to both the ancient Origin stories and modern origin stories.

Genesis 1 tells us: God (YHWY) alone is creator, he is eternal, he is all powerful, he is purposeful, he is present, he is good

Our Good God prepares a place for us to be with him

3) my aim in Genesis 1 is to equip the saints. I want to do that in a couple different ways:

a. To present an alternative view of creation and Genesis 1 that is more traditional to historical biblical interpretation and avoids many of the modern pitfalls of Science vs. Religion.

-you don’t have to agree with me.

-You can still insist the Earth is for a fact 14,000 years old after this. That doesn’t matter. Jesus does.

-You can believe the earth is old and think that this interpretation is ridiculous. Thats okay. Only Jesus matters.

-I simply want to propose the more traditional and historic interpretation.

b. to give us confidence in the bible. Rather than see Genesis as an obstacle to Christ for the modern mind, to see it as a bridge to Jesus.

c. Science is really great at trying to explain what a thing is, or even how it came to be. but science can never tell you why a thing is. Like why human life is so valuable, why humans exist, or even why we find sunsets, forests and nature beautiful. Why one thing is good, and another bad.

But God’s word tells us all this and more.

the message that the wandering Jews needed to hear and the message we need to hear from today’s text and the beginning verses of Genesis:

Our Good God prepares a place for us to be with him

Main point of Genesis 1 for them and for us.

Pt 1: God created everything in the beginning

[READ 1:1]

Is this just a title or is this part of the narrative?

We tend to see v 1 as a title to everything that follows. (v2-the end) are all about God creating the heavens and the Earth.

What if I told you, this isn’t a title, this is the first sentence.

conjunction “And”

You can’t see it in your english bibles. We put a period. But there is an “and”

this is not a title. No title ends with and

In the traditional view, everything that was ever made was made in the beginning.

What is verse2-25 all about then if everything was made in verse 1? We will get to that.

“The beginning”- indefinite amount of time

We are very linear thinkers. Undefined times don’t work for us. We think of the beginning being the start. a specific moment.

In fact, it is an undefined amount of time.

Gen 13:3 And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning,

A better way of saying “the beginning” might be, “in the time before the first day.”

Before the first day, God created everything.

Heavens and Earth. an expression like “from head to foot” - The entire Cosmos

Before the first day, God created everything out of nothing. We have no idea how long that took.

Everything that exists was created over a time that the bible will not ever try to define, but likely God is allowing humans to investigate and debate that very question for as long as we lack answers.

The bible is not meant to answer scientific questions and we misuse it when we do.

We ask the wrong questions and not the right one.

Who is God, who am I, what does my future hold?

the bible is also not debunked by science. The Bible is the infallible work and word of God

Science debunks herself constantly- thats the beauty of discovery and trial and error.

Half of Einsteins theories are now considered incorrect

Science changes, God’s word does not.

Let science do science and let the word of God do what she was intended to do:

The point of verse 1:

-God always has been. God is. Marvel at that.

-Everything was made by him.

God is not so interested in you knowing the age of the earth, but knowing that he has no age. He always is, was and will be and that all things come from him.

God created the heavens and the Earth…… AND…… the earth was without form and void

Pt 2: God prepares a good place for his people

[READ 1:2]

-1. Earth (Land; eretz)

-planet Earth, land, dirt, ground, soil, a nation, etc.

-in spanish, tierra

- our problem- as modern scientific readers. The globe vs The land

-What are verses 2-25 all about?

-not the globe. The land

-Because the book of genesis does not stand on it’s own, but was composed as part 1 of 5 volumes (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) Moses is tracing the same theme of land from Gen 1:2-through the end.

-Land is mentioned 846 times in the pentateuch, always to talk about the land as the country of God’s people.

-not the planet earth, the piece of earth God would give his people.

Our Good God prepared a place for us to be with him

-If v1 is not a title, then vv2-25 are about God preparing the land for his people. The Earth is made, the land is uninhabitable

2. Uninhabitable. The land is:

-Dark

-covered in waters

Formless and void

-not a place for God’s people to dwell. Not a place for any human to dwell. Only a dark place to drown and die.

-Spirit hovering over the waters

-Yet God is present over the disorder and chaos, to bring it together and prepare a place for his people.

Our Good God prepared a place for us to be with him

3. Preparing the place:

Days 1-7. We will only do days 1-6ish today. Each of the days is and act of preparation, not creation, with the exception of humans.

Think of preparation as God organizing and establishing what he has created.

[illustration]

Organize- When i first moved to Costa Rica I had a place lined up. but i didn’t know the people I was staying with or anything about life outside the USA. When i arrived i learned of all the preparations that the Señora of the house had made for me- she bought new sheets, made my bed, moved old junk out of the room and the closet so i had more room for my baggage and a clean place to stay. She put a vase with fresh flowers in the room and prepared a great little space for me. She Organized a place for me. It made moving to a new place a lot easier.

Establish- moving to a new country can be confusing. Imagine if she had only organized the place and nothing more. Customs are different and even technology is different. You need to learn how to act in your environment- what things mean and how things work. Imagine if the Señora had just left me to figure all those things out? I would have died in the shower by electrocution if she hadn’t told me what the Widow Maker shower head was and how to use it. I would have died in the road if I thought cars would cross for me on the cross walk. She needed to establish the purpose of things as well.

organize and establish

DARKNESS

a. Light and Lights

-in verse 2 There was darkness.

-Organize: “let there be light”

not creating, turning it on over the land, The first sunrise in Eden.

He turns on the light on day 1 (vv3-5)

-Establishes: He gives the lights their purposes on Day 4- Sun, moon, stars (vv14-19)

-not creating, explaining

God tells us the purpose for why he put the lights in the sky: to direct the times and seasons of worship.

How could God have created light without stars and the sun and the moon?

In the beginning everything was created. Now he is preparing the land by organizing it and establishing it.

WATERS

b. Waters above and below

organizing: Waters of chaos he places above and below “Sky” day 2 (vv6-8)

Establishing: fills the sky and waters below with life. Day 5- Sea creatures, birds (vv20-15)

again, I view this as the promised land, not the planet earth. Just like the house and the room I stayed already existed, it was not prepared and the purpose of things was not established for me until it was. So the Earth and all that is in it already exists, but God is preparing a special place within it.

FORMLESS and VOID

c. Sea and Land, vegetation

Organizing: Forming a place for man and woman to set their feet, and also a place for the wild animals to set their feet in this new place. (Day 3) (vv9-13)

Establishing: filling the void with the plants animals he had made (Day 6)

-Humans are the last to be created, everything is for preparation of man.

vv2-25 The focus is not on how the universe was created, but on how the Land was prepared for humans to be with God.

Takeaways for them: What this mean for the jewish people:

1. the sun is no god. he is an instrument of God’s, a creation of his and a gift because he is good.

The stars are not gods, but they do belong to God.

The seas are not the body of a dead god, they are the organization of God.

2. God is good. After everything he creates, it is good. Because he is good. And whatever blesses and helps his people is good.

Ra was not good unless you were good to him. Molech was not good unless they were good to him.

But before you and i ever were, God was good to us!

3. By his word he created earth and and humans, and everything that is in it. By his word he prepares a place for us.

God is so powerful that by his word alone he accomplishes his will. No fighting with other gods, simply doing what he wants.

God is eternal, he is good he is powerful, he is purposeful and he is present with his creation

by his word he creates, establishes and saves us.

pt 3: our good God has prepared a good place for you to be with him in Jesus Christ.

Gospel: Bad News. Good News.

1. Bad News: our life without God is formless and void. We are chaos. We are dark.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Jn 1:1–5.

2. Good news:

a. When there was no light, he broke in. Jesus came to the world, and Jesus showed up in our lives. We were not looking for him, we could not see. But God turned the light on and Jesus stood before us.

b. Perhaps the first thing we saw beneath his light was our sin. Our chaos. The waters of God’s judgement were drowning us- we were dead in our sins. In that moment Jesus Christ walked over the waters, extended his hand to us as he did Peter and places our feet on dry ground.

c. When we were hungry with no spiritual nutrition Just as god filled the land with plants and animals, so Jesus gave us himself, the bread of life. He is our strength and our source.

d. When we did not know the way of the christian life, Just as God placed the stars and lights of the sky to direct our seasons and worship, so he has given us his word. A light to our eyes to direct our paths in this christian pilgrimage of life. The first humans to see God face to face followed a star that led them to stumble into a manger. Where Jesus Christ waited for them. We look to Jesus, who himself reveals the very nature and heart of God to us.

e. Jesus came to fill our life with an abundance of beauty as we walk with him in worship and friendship. Just as he filled the raging seas and the storming skies and the empty land with every good thing- so he has filled my cup with blessings, and it overflows.

Conclusion:

God has prepared a place for you to be with him

For Adam and Eve, it was the land of Eden.

For you and me, it is Jesus Christ.

All of creation, including you and me find our satisfaction, fulfillment and belonging in Jesus christ.

In Christ, we will not only have relationship with God, but live forever, flourish and be blessed. In his is all the goodness and the fulness of God.

You are not alone. You matter. You are not an accident nor do you come from a monkey. You are not helplessly alone spinning towards destruction on a forgotten rock in the middle of eternal nothing.

Our God is creator, he is eternal, he is all powerful, he is purposeful, he is present, he is good and he is our savior. The God who created the world is the God who saves the world.

Hebrews 1:2–3 “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

Our Good God prepared a place for us to be with him in Jesus Christ.