Our Good and Loving Creator

Introduction

Read Genesis 1-2:3

Genesis 1–2:3 (ESV)

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

And God said, “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. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.” So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

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.

And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

Last week, we looked at verse 1 and only that verse as we looked at the greatness, power, and sovereignty of God. That He is transcendent and stands above and apart from His creation and that He is not affected by or dependent upon the created world.

God Draws Near to His Creation

As we move into verse 2, we see something remarkable about our transcendent God.

God is Intentional About Creation

First, we see that when He created the heavens and the earth, it says that the earth was formless and void and covered in darkness.

Now, this does not mean that God made a mistake in His creation.

Isaiah 45:18 (ESV)

For thus says the Lord,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it empty,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other.

In verse 2, we do get a sense of incompleteness, but it is not due to any insufficiency in God. We are actually getting a glimpse of His power and His loving design.

God could have snapped His fingers and have everything appear just as it was meant to be. Or He could have swirled everything together to see how it would pop out.

However, what we see here is that God has created the canvas and the paint from which He will then give careful thought, planning and design to His creation.

God did not create in vain, this was actually a part of His good and loving plan for creation.

God Draws Near to Creation

Second, notice that even in its darkness, formlessness, and emptiness, what do we see next?

We see the third person of the Trinity come near and hover over the face of the waters upon the earth.

God, in His transcendence, who sits above and outside time and space, chooses to draw near to His creation.

While God is transcendent, He is also immanent, which means He is near and invested in His work of creation.

There was a popular theological position during the early modern era, that coincided with the rise of the popularity of theories like evolution and naturalistic views of the origins of creation, called Deism.

Deism - belief in the existence of a supreme being, specifically of a creator who does not intervene in the universe. The term is used chiefly of an intellectual movement of the 17th and 18th centuries that accepted the existence of a creator on the basis of reason but rejected belief in a supernatural deity who interacts with humankind.

Those who espoused this view was able to maintain a culturally acceptable belief in God, but denied that He cared to interact with or have any dealings with His creation.

Many of our founding fathers espoused this particular theological belief while maintaining a simply cultural Christianity.

While the official designation of Deism may not be as widely used today as it was 2-3 hundred years ago, we still see its effects today.

While we want to believe in an all-loving God, we do not want Him to really speak into who we are and how we are to live. We want someone to just speak nice words to us while sitting back and letting us do what we want.

However, if God does just sit back and doesn’t care how we live or what we do, then we have a God who doesn’t love us. He just exists to sit back on His cosmic couch and be entertained by what He sees in us.

But we do have a God who loves us by drawing near and speaking into our lives, guiding and leading us, exercising His rule and reign over creation because He knows what is best!

Last week, we saw a God who was powerful enough to be able to save fallen humanity.

Today we see a God who is not just able to save, but loves us and longs to save fallen humanity and everything He does as Creator is for our good!

God Wisely Designs His Creation

Next, we get the six days of creation. As the Spirit comes to hover over the face of the waters, we begin to see God take the canvas of creation and bring life and beauty and design to His marvelous work!

God Forms

First, if we look at verse 2 as an outline for what God is about to do, we see that God is intentionally bringing about a good and perfect design to His creation.

Again, He does not just swirl the melting pot to see what pops out. He is taking an invested interest in planning out how creation is going to look and operate!

So, as we go through this account, we see that in the first three days, God is giving the created universe a good and perfect form.

Verse 3-5 - On day one, He gives form to light bringing all the particles together to bring forth the ability to see and appreciate the beauty of God’s created world.

Verse 6-8 - On day two, God gives form to the water upon the earth. The earth seems to be just one big water world. But He forms an expanse upon the earth and separates the waters below from the waters above. He is creating and forming the atmosphere which will be necessary for all the life He will create upon the earth.

Verse 9-13 - On day three, God gives form to the land and separates the land from the water, which is necessary for us. God in His goodness was making a place for us to live. And in His forming of the land, He makes it to be a place of life as vegetation grows and produces upon it to give food and sustenance to the creatures that will live upon it.

What Moses is wanting us to see is that the earth did not just come into being by some freak accident or because the pagan gods of the Egyptians or Canaanites were fighting and this is the result of that chaotic encounter. Rather, this was all part of God’s perfect plan for creation!

God Fills

The next three days, we see God filling the void now that He has given a form to the earth.

And what we want to pay attention to is the grand design and intentionality of how God fills the newly formed creation.

On day four, we have God giving fullness to the light He created on day one. He proceeds to create the lights in the heavens, aka, the stars and planets we enjoy as we stare into the night sky. He also speaks into existence the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night, which regardless of your knowledge of astronomy, everyone in here can point out those two particular lights, the sun and the moon.

On day five, we see God filling the skies and the seas that He formed on day two with the fish and the birds.

And finally on day six, we see God filling the land with beasts and then ultimately with humanity who was made in His image. We will speak more about the image of God next Sunday.

What we see here is a God, who in His wisdom, formed creation with intention and purpose in such a way that would bring about the greatest good for His creation and the greatest glory for Himself.

Psalm 19:1–6 (ESV)

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

In them he has set a tent for the sun,

which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,

and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.

Its rising is from the end of the heavens,

and its circuit to the end of them,

and there is nothing hidden from its heat.

Everything is properly ordered and designed to work well together and God has graciously filled in the empty spaces to teem with life and joy.

As we look into creation, both into the depths of the seas, and into the heights of the skies, we can see a gloriously beautiful God who has intricately and intimately designed and ordered creation exactly as it was meant to be.

We can see this order, even as we are able to predict decades and centuries out when the moon crosses in front of the sun. Everything is in its right place where we can know where things will be long after we are dead and gone. How amazing is that?

In the same way, God has ordered and designed life to work in a very specific, God-glorifying way. It is to our benefit and good to submit to this all wise and loving God to live life the way He has intended it to be lived.

Psalm 19:7–8 (ESV)

The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the testimony of the Lord is sure,

making wise the simple;

the precepts of the Lord are right,

rejoicing the heart;

the commandment of the Lord is pure,

enlightening the eyes;

There are many people who simply want for God to leave them alone and let them live life, in the words of Frank Sinatra, “My way.” And they think they alone can find the fullness of life they think they desire.

However, true wisdom is found in trusting and following Christ, because He alone is the Creator of Life and can lead us on the only way that will lead to true joy and fulfillment.

Proverbs 1:7 (ESV)

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Without Christ, there is no true form within which to live, and without Christ, there is no true filling up of joy and satisfaction!

God Blesses His Creation

Finally, after God finishes His work of Creation, He blesses His creation with the gift of rest.

This rest is not simply the ceasing of activity.

God is not a God who gets tired and needs to sleep or stop what He is doing.

In fact, if God were to ever stop His work, we would cease to exist.

This rest is a setting apart of a day for the purpose of finding joy and strength in the Lord.

This rest is not simply kicking our feet up on the couch and binge watch the latest Netflix show or going out for a quiet day fishing on the lake.

This rest is only found as we submit our lives to Christ as we trust in His completed work for us.

And yes, we do trust in God’s finished work of Creation for us, but it goes even beyond Creation. Because of our sin, God would take part in another work, the work of salvation.

In the same way that God declared His work finished here, so Jesus would declare as He hung upon the cross, “It is finished.”

He alone has completed the work necessary for us to experience life in His presence and He is inviting us to find our rest in Him.

Matthew 11:28 (ESV)

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

He is inviting us to stop our own works, our own striving for joy and life and purpose and come to Him who Has finished both the work of creation and the work of salvation and find in Him the rest that our souls are longing for.

We can either continue to keep fighting for joy and life in our own way, never satisfied, always looking for more,

or we can submit our lives totally to Christ who alone can give us the life, joy, and purpose that our Creator alone can give to us.

This means we must live our lives in faith and in obedience to Christ.

Hebrews 4:6–10 (ESV)

Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted,

“Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts.”

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

We have a God who loves us and is inviting us into His rest, the rest of knowing and finding joy in Him alone. He has designed creation for us to see and to be drawn to Him.

We are now being called to respond to this God who has drawn near to us, who has so wisely and perfectly designed creation out of love for us, and has blessed His creation by inviting us to draw near to Him.

He is calling to each of us today!

If you hear His voice calling out to you inviting you to repent and believe, do not harden your voice.